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Professor Peter Molan
- Position:
- Professor of Biological Sciences
- Field:
- Antibacterial activity of manuka honey
- Organisation:
- University of Waikato
Professor Peter Molan is the inaugural recipient of the Science Entrepreneur Kudo Award, sponsored by Waikato Innovation Park.
Through research, education, invention and advising companies, Prof Molan has taken his discovery of the unusual antibacterial activity of manuka honey through to the stage where manuka honey wound dressings are in use in hospitals and approved by the medical regulatory authorities in many countries.
His research work and publications on the effectiveness of manuka honey as an anti-infective agent on the range of bacterial species that infect wounds has raised the interest of medical professionals in using manuka honey on wounds. His research has shown additional beneficial effects of honey in wound healing, such as its rapid deodorising and cleaning actions, its marked stimulation of the rate of tissue repair in wounds and the prevention of scarring.
Through his collaboration with wound-care specialists in the development of best practice for treating wounds with honey, he has developed novel dressing materials that allow honey to be applied to wounds in a convenient way, which overcomes the opposition of many clinicians to using a substance that is otherwise sticky and messy.
Prof Molan has enabled successful commercialisation of manuka honey products for wound care that are now registered as medical devices with the regulatory authorities in Australia, Canada, the countries of the European Union, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the USA.
For more information see:
www.biotechlearn.org.nz/focus_stories/honey_to_heal
Follow this link to the Kudos website to see the 2007 Award winners: www.thekudos.org.nz/2007winners.html
This article is based on information current in 2008.
