UCSB chemistry professor receives top military award for life-sa...(product's clotting power. Stucky's team ...)

Stucky also discovered that an alternative simple substance, kaolin clay, not only eliminated the heat but added to the blood-clotting action.

"Kaolin clay has been used since the 1950s as an activating agent for a clotting test that medical doctors routinely perform," says graduate student April Sawvel, who worked on the project. "We tested it against the original zeolite-based granular QuikClot and discovered that it worked just as well, but without the large heat release associated with the original QuikClot formulation."

The latest generation of the product, QuikClot Combat GauzeTM brand, is now a medical gauze infused with nanoparticles of kaolin clay. It has been found to be 100 percent effective in careful testing performed at the Naval Medical Research Center. Z-Medica also markets a civilian version, QuikClot 1st ResponseTM, which is becoming standard equipment with emergency providers nationwide, and QuikClot Sport brand and QuikClot Sport Silver, which are available over the counter and becoming popular with outdoor adventurers.

"Combat Gauze has been selected by the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care as the first-line product for hemorrhage control," Dr. Michael B. Given, program officer for Casualty Care and Management with the Office of Naval Research, said in a note commending Stucky on his work. "Navy and the Marine Corps are adopting Combat Gauze, as will the other Services since we all follow CoTCCC recommendations. So, well done."

"Here's a very, very simple, cost-effective solution that works. I feel strongly about the impact it will and can have for the military and for civilians of every age," Stucky said. "It's a wonderful example of how the university can effectively and directly contribute to solving real
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