• Dr Yujie Mao will lead the research to make bio-inspired wound care adhesives
• Conventional wound care adhesives do not stick well to wet or bleeding skin, can cause irritation and are made from non-biodegradable, synthetic chemicals
• Tea leaves are a renewable waste product and the process will use green chemistry principles.

Researchers at Aston University are to research making bioadhesives for wound care, inspired by mussels, from waste tea leaves, after receiving a grant of £498,000 from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Wound care is a growing healthcare challenge, with the NHS treating nearly 4 million patients annually. Conventional adhesives used in adhesive dressings and plasters have various drawbacks, including that they do not stick well to wet or bleeding skin, can cause irritation, and are made from non-biodegradable, synthetic chemicals.

Dr Yujie Mao, a lecturer in chemical engineering at Aston University and working across the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI) and Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME), will lead research to create a new class of sustainable, biocompatible and high-performance bioadhesives, which the team has named TEAGEL, for wound care.

Dr Mao has taken inspiration from marine mussels, which make highly adhesive biopolymer threads to enable them to stick firmly to wet, uneven rocks on the seashore, even during storms. The team will mimic these adhesives using tannin and lignin, two biopolymers that they will extract from spent tea leaves, an abundant waste product. As well as being highly abundant and renewable, these plant-derived materials possess adhesive chemical structures and provide antioxidant and antimicrobial functionalities that support wound healing.

The team, which includes co-lead Dr Longinus Ifeanyi Igbojionu, Professor Paul Topham, Dr Alfred Fernandez-Castane, and Dr Stephane Gross will develop the new bioadhesives using a ‘one pot’ green chemistry process in a novel, sustainable liquid media known as deep eutectic solvents (DES). Unlike conventional solvents, these are nature-based, non-flammable and have low vapour pressures and toxicity. The process will use an enzyme called laccase to help form the adhesive materials without the need for synthetic additives or harsh processing, aligning with green chemistry and sustainable manufacturing principles.

The team will work to optimise TEAGEL formulations, and will test their wet adhesion, mechanical and rheological properties, as well as recyclability and their biocompatibility for use on wounds.

Dr Mao says that the methodology developed through TEAGEL for making this new generation of bioadhesive products will have broad applicability across medical, industrial and consumer sectors. It will allow researchers to test different formulations, functionalities, and industrial feedstocks.

The UK is among the world’s largest tea consumers, brewing approximately 127m kg of tea leaves annually, presenting a significant underexploited opportunity for renewable material production. The research team will source the tea leaves for the project from a Midlands-based industrial partner, Saicho, which produces single origin sparkling teas. Currently, their waste tea leaves are used as a low-value fertiliser.

There are also two international research partners, Professor Karen Edler at Lund University in Sweden, and Professor Chunlin Xu at Åbo Akademi University in Finland.

The project grant has come from the recent UKRI/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) schematic call Unlocking the full potential of nature-based engineering. TEAGEL is one of 15 projects across the UK selected through the programme, which supports interdisciplinary research advancing bio-inspired design and eco-inspired solutions that play to the strengths and unique capabilities of nature. The challenge to unlock the potential of nature-based engineering was identified in the Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges (TERC) report as one of eight technological challenges.

A key aspect of the programme is its strong emphasis on supporting early career researchers (ECRs), with up to £75,000 of funding dedicated to researcher development activities. TEAGEL involves two ECRs, Dr Mao and Dr Igbojionu, and includes dedicated mentorship, training, international secondments and impact activities designed to support long-term career development and interdisciplinary research leadership.

Dr Mao said:

“I am delighted to receive this award and to lead TEAGEL at Aston University. This is my first major research grant since starting my first independent academic position at Aston in August 2025, so it is incredibly exciting to receive this support so early in my academic career. TEAGEL brings together sustainable materials, green chemistry and bio-inspired engineering to address an important healthcare challenge while transforming waste biomass into high-value products.

“I am very grateful for the outstanding support and collaborative environment at Aston University, particularly from colleagues across EBRI and AIME, as well as Aston’s research support and grants teams throughout the application process. The project also reflects Aston University’s strengths in interdisciplinary and impact-driven research, bringing together expertise across EBRI and AIME, and I look forward to further strengthening these collaborations through TEAGEL.”

Professor Jude Onwudili, co-director of EBRI, said:

“This research showcases the breadth of expertise we have here at Aston University and the power of interdisciplinary collaboration. By combining knowledge in bioproducts, membrane science, sustainable chemistry and advanced materials, our researchers are pioneering an exciting new approach to bio-inspired wound care adhesives. Using waste tea leaves as a renewable feedstock also reflects our wider commitment to supporting sustainable manufacturing and circular economy innovation.”

Professor Paul Topham, director of AIME, said:

“This project is an exemplar of collaborative, multidisciplinary research, and we will be using it as a platform to explore further opportunities for collaboration between AIME and EBRI.”