This Emirati Student Just Won the “Falling Walls Lab Dubai” Competition for her Scar-Healing Invention!
Reem Al Dhaheri, a Chemical Engineering Student at the Canadian University Dubai, just won the Falling Walls Lab Dubai competition after developing a new technology that speeds up the scar healing process. The Falling Walls Lab Competition a global innovation challenge that aims to nurture talent. The invention was described as a breakthrough and was influenced by the suffering of one of the students’ friends.
“I was surprised to find that despite phenomenal advances in health care, the approach of treating hypertrophic scars has not changed in the last 30 years. This is something that can affect anyone at any time so I felt it was an important area to explore.” Said Al Dhaheri. Her invention was selected from over 30 projects from across the region, with ideas on how to tackle global concerns, such as cyber-security, energy conservation, and alleviating poverty.
Her healing method uses nanotechnology — silicon gel sheets are impregnated with silicone nano-crystals. These sheets can be applied to the scar site making it possible to decrease the size of a scar. The region’s pride will demonstrate her winning project to an audience of over 600 world-class experts, including delegates from institutions such as Harvard and MIT, in Berlin on the eighth of November.
