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

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $249,000

## 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:** 11001625
- **Project number:** 4R00GM141269-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Wei Zhang
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $249,000
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2022-05-01 → 2027-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11001625

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11001625, Light triggered materials for on-demand local anesthesia and tissue adhesive dissolution (4R00GM141269-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11001625. Licensed CC0.

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