Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld Shares VetiGel Creation Experiment: How A 17-Year-Old Mixed Algae in a Small Hidden Lab
Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld, CEO and Founder of the Marthaverse, posted on LinkedIn:
“A 17-year-old mixed algae in a small lab hidden on his grandfather’s Hudson Valley vineyard.
It grabbed wet tissue and wouldn’t let go.
That experiment turned into VetiGel: a plant-based gel that seals wounds and helps blood clot.
Trauma care’s hard problem:
Severe bleeding is the leading cause of preventable trauma death.
A major arterial bleed can kill in 3–5 minutes.
Most products need firm pressure, the right wound shape, and time.
Deep, jagged wounds are tough to pack.
What Joe built:
- A gel that seals fast and triggers clotting
- No manual pressure
- Stops bleeding in under 20 seconds
Works on skin and organs
The proof: In veterinary surgery on 16 dogs, VetiGel cut blood loss from 78 mL to 6.7 mL. Time to hemostasis dropped from 25 minutes to under 2.
Cresilon later created TraumaGel for humans. It’s FDA cleared.
It made Time’s “Best Inventions of 2025.”
The Department of Defense signed on.
Picture an earthquake. A mother pinned under rubble, bleeding from a deep wound. No ambulance for 40 minutes. A responder applies gel. The bleeding stops.
She’s still alive when rescue arrives.
We spent decades accepting some bleeds are too fast and too deep to stop in time. A kid in a vineyard lab didn’t accept that.
Follow me, Dr. Martha Boeckenfeld, for stories where curiosity changes medicine.
Share if you think big medical advances can start everywhere. We just need imagination!
This is my find for YOU on the the last Day of 2025 to show, how human imagination is saving lives!”
Explore more posts for deeper insights into hemostasis with Hemostasis Today.
-
Jan 7, 2026, 08:50Fahad Khaliq on When is Ticagrelor Preferred Over Other Antiplatelets
-
Jan 7, 2026, 06:41Zain Khalpey on AI Driven Risk Prediction for Optimization of Anticoagulation in LVAD
-
Jan 7, 2026, 05:47Michael Makris: The Wakley Prize Essay Published in Today’s Lancet is an Excellent Read
-
Jan 7, 2026, 05:36Pierre F Sabouret Shares A Study on the Risk of Cardiovascular Death in SIDs
-
Jan 7, 2026, 05:15Glaivy Batsuli Reflects on ASH25
-
Jan 7, 2026, 05:04Heghine Khachatryan on VWD: A Landmark in the History of Hematology
-
Jan 6, 2026, 13:39JAMA Neurology: No Added Benefit of Dual Therapy After Ischemic Stroke in Case of AFib
-
Jan 6, 2026, 10:10This is Fantastic: Shirley D’Sa on Transfusion-Free Christmas Milestone for 𝛃-Thalassaemia Patient at UCLH
-
Jan 6, 2026, 09:53Hamideh Yadegari: Coagulation–Inflammation Crosstalk: Mechanisms, Pathways, and Clinical Implications