# Light triggered materials for on-demand local anesthesia and tissue adhesive dissolution

> **NIH NIH K99** · BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL · 2022 · $100,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
Effective control of acute and chronic pain is a major medical challenge related to patients’ quality of life.
Treatment with systemic medications is frequently associated with problems, such as addiction, illegal abuse
and even death, leading to social problems and economic burden. Local anesthetics are effective alternatives
in treating localized pain without clouding the sensorium, and systemic side effects are generally uncommon.
During the mentored K99 phase, the PI will design, synthesize and characterize novel light-responsive
polymer-local anesthetic conjugates for on-demand local pain treatment. In this design, the local anesthetics
will be chemically bound to polymeric carriers in a manner that could only be reversed by photo-triggering.
Materials developed in this project will enable a local anesthetic release system, in which after first
administration, pain relief will be controllable in real-time by the patient or clinician using a light source (light-
emitting diode or laser). When combined with the PI’s background in chemistry and polymer science, the
training and results in the mentored phase will empower the PI, in the R00 phase, to further extend the
application of light triggerable materials to the design, synthesis and characterization of novel light-responsive
tissue adhesives. Most existing tissue adhesives are inconvenient to reposition during the application, remove
undesired residue, or correct inadvertent placement of glue in the wrong position. The R00 project will develop
tissue adhesive based on crosslinkable multiarmed polymers with photocleavable properties. The material will
be dissolvable upon light irradiation, allowing convenient and non-invasive removal of the adhesives. During
the award period, the PI will receive training in drug delivery systems, light-responsive materials, in vivo
characterizations of materials, and training in career development, which will greatly increase the PI’s breadth
of skills experience in biomaterials and prepare him for an independent academic career.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10368292
- **Project number:** 1K99GM141269-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Wei Zhang
- **Activity code:** K99 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $100,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-01 → 2024-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10368292

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10368292, Light triggered materials for on-demand local anesthesia and tissue adhesive dissolution (1K99GM141269-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10368292. Licensed CC0.

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