high-school student invents color-changing sutures to detect infection

dasia taylor, a bright 17-year-old student from iowa, USA, has invented a new type of suture that changes color when a surgical wound becomes infected. passionate about science and medicine, the high-schooler had stumbled upon ‘smart sutures’ that use technology to detect infection, but was looking out for a natural substance as an accessible alternative that could mark infection due to pH changes. turns out that she has found her secret ingredient in an all-time-favorite root vegetable — the beet. 

dasia taylor, the standout scient student from iowa, USA
all images courtesy of society for science

since 2018 when dasia taylor started working on this project, she has juiced around three dozen beets to dye the sutures. when researching materials for the thread, she found that a polyester and cotton mix provides optimized thickness and absorbency, while it also showcases a noticeable darkening of color when exposed to a higher pH level that indicates infection. human skin is naturally acidic with a pH of five which —when infected— can go up to a nine. after meticulous experimentation, taylor was able to confirm that beets change color in a similar way to the human skin, under such pH changes. the student then replicated her results, stitching her new sutures on an artificial skin pad and exposing it to various pH solutions.

after five minutes under an infection-like pH, the thread changes from bright red to dark purple

although not fully developed, taylor’s innovation has great potential and could possibly facilitate early detection and prevention of surgical site infections which lead to health complications, or even to death. in addition, the student’s revolutionary sutures are an affordable solution, therefore accessible to as many people as possible. this fact becomes even more interesting if one looks at overwhelming figures provided by the world health organization: in developing countries, infections develop on 11% of sutures after surgery, while in some african countries, up to 20% of patients become infected after a cesarean section. ‘these cases can be fatal,’ mentions the teenager.

after three days, the dark purple fades to light gray color

seeking to contribute towards reinforcing global health equity, taylor hopes that her color-changing sutures will help both doctors and patients detect surgical site infections as early as possible. the young woman is planning to patent her invention, but in the meantime, she’s waiting for her final college admissions results.

 
dasia taylor hopes that the color-changing sutures will someday help patients detect surgical site infections as early as possible

project info:

name: color-changing sutures
developed by: dasia taylor