How a mistake in the lab transformed modern medicine

The enormity of his discovery clicked when a young lab technician accidentally glued together the two

prisms of a $700 Abbe refractometer. Rather than fi ring the technician for his costly error, Dr. Harry Coover ’41, P’66 began

to run around the lab, gluing everything together. The fates had given him a second chance, and he wasn’t going to let it get away from him this time. Coover and his team had rediscovered cyanoacrylates, a class of

chemicals with powerful adhesive properties and a tensile strength measuring at a ton per square inch. You probably know the product

as SuperGlue or Krazy Glue, but until that fateful realization in the lab, it was really just a pain in Coover’s neck. He had initially developed the compound during World War II while trying to create an optically clear plastic gunsight. The substance worked as a mold for the sites, but it stuck to everything, frustrating Coover, who eventually put the formula aside. Six years later, as Coover and a team of young scientists struggled to develop a heat-resistant polymer for jet canopies, they revisited the work he’d done with gunsights. Instead of leading his team down the path to jet canopies, the sticky re-discovery refocused them on refi ning this new super glue for commercial use. It would be impressive enough if the story ended there – with Coover responsible for the repair of hundreds of vases broken by clumsy children the world over – but within just a few years, his adhesive had grown into something bigger than anyone could have imagined. Coover quickly realized that the adhesive, initially marketed as Kodak 910 because the glue set before you could count to 10, may have medical relevance. In 1964, Kodak applied to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to use cyanoacrylate glue as a wound sealant and hemostat.

Though their initial application was denied, the glue nonetheless eventually found use on battlefi elds in Vietnam. “I was fi rst made aware of using cyanoacrylates to manage trauma while I was serving as a Battalion Surgeon in Vietnam,” says Dr. Vincent R. DiGregorio ’64, chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Winthrop University Hospital. Responding to this new need, Coover developed disposable cyanoacrylate sprays. “If somebody had an open wound that was bleeding, the biggest problem they had was to stop the bleeding so they could get the patient back to the hospital,” Coover said in an interview. “The medics used the spray, stopped the bleeding, and were able to get the wounded back to the base hospital.” Captain Chad A. Bevan III ’96, an Air Force fl ight surgeon currently serving in the Middle East, is happy to report that Coover’s discovery is still being used in combat situations, though not always as the label indicates. “I usually carry cyanoacrylate adhesives with me on combat missions, just in case,” he says. “Just a few weeks ago, I used the adhesive to repair an essential part of the pilot’s helmet just as we were entering Baghdad airspace. Thanks to Dr. Coover’s work, the mission continued successfully.”

How SuperGlue works In its liquid or gel form, SuperGlue is made up of monomers, very small molecules that are easily bonded to other small molecules. As soon as the monomers interact with hydrogen and oxygen molecules in the air (usually from water), they bond together into long chains of molecules (polymers) that are difficult to break.

by Melissa Sue Sorrells ’05It’s Sticky

DR. HARRY COOVER ’41, P’66 IS HONORED WITH THE HOBART MEDAL OF EXCELLENCE

10 Pulteney Street Survey | Winter 2010

WAVELENGTHS

Today, the adhesives are well accepted beyond the battlefi eld, useful for a variety of surgical and veterinary uses. A lower-strength version is even available in most drug stores, usually marketed as Liquid Bandage or Liquid Skin. In 1998, the FDA approved the glue for closing surgical incisions, and in 2001, it approved an antibacterial form of the glue, marketed as Dermabond. “Dermabond is clear, so it allows you to monitor the wound underneath as it heals,” says Dr. Darrick E. Antell ’73, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon practicing in New York City. “Wound monitoring is one of the biggest benefi ts of cyanoacrylates, in my opinion, because it allows you to look for signs of infection without waiting to remove a dressing.” “I use tissue adhesives nearly every day in my practice,” says Hobart Alumni Association President Dr. Robert H. Gilman ’70, a plastic surgeon. “I often use invisible sutures – sutures beneath the skin – to close a wound or surgical opening then use a fi nal layer of skin glue on top to seal the surface together, eliminating the need for suture removal down the road.” Cyanoacrylates also save time during wound repair because they’re quicker to apply than sutures, and they provide a fl exible, water-resistant coating that allows patients to get back to their normal lives quickly. When used as a suture-less wound closure, the substance requires no needles or numbing agents, which makes it especially useful when working with children. “I’ve been using cyanoacrylate adhesives for years. They’re a kid’s best friend,” says Dr. John A. Massimilian ’81, an emergency physician. “When you tell a child that there’ll be no needles, their eyes light up and they get a lot more cooperative.” Dr. Allyson Shirtz Howe ’94, who uses Dermabond in her sports medicine practice, remembers a particularly horrible personal situation when the adhesive came in handy. Howe’s daughter Lucy, three years old at the time, tripped and fell one afternoon, creating a wound on the undersurface of her chin. Lucy was in a hysterical state by the time Howe’s

husband, Dave, got her to Howe’s clinic. “I quickly realized that Lucy would need to be restrained for suturing, and I wasn’t prepared for that. My colleague Pam remembered Dermabond, and that treatment took about 10 seconds,” says Howe. “Now six years old, Lucy remembers the event fondly, and her scar is barely noticeable.” In January, the Hobart Alumni Associa-tion honored Coover for his contributions to medicine awarding him with the Hobart Medal of Excellence, the Alumni Association’s highest honor. “What I want to convey today is the utter awe I have at the way life comes full circle,” said Coover in his acceptance speech. “The very college community that excited me, pulled me in, and gave me a wonderful foundation on which I built the rest of my career, now honors me as a distinguished alumnus. My thanks go to Hobart College, who took this young farm boy from Newark, Delaware, and made him an educated man ready to take on the world.” For Coover’s fellow Hobart and William Smith alums, the fact that one of their own has revolutionized medicine isn’t surprising at all. “A Hobart and William Smith education sparks independent and creative thinking as well as a desire to give back to society,” says Dr. Edward J. Tapper ’64. “Great ideas fl ow from open, creative minds,” agrees DiGregorio. “The medical application of cyanoacrylate adhesives is a great example of thinking out of the box and realizing there has to be a better way.” ●To see video of Dr. Harry Coover in 1959 introducing America to Kodak 910 on CBS’ “I’ve Got A Secret,” visit www.hws.edu/alumni/pssurvey.

“I use tissue adhesives nearly every day in my practice.” – Hobart Alumni Association President Dr. Robert H. Gilman ’70, a plastic surgeon

Surprising Uses for SuperGlue 1. A medical company has started preclinical trials using cyanoacrylates to surgically reduce lung volume as a treatment for emphysema patients.

2. Criminal investigators use cyanoacrylate vapor to reveal invisible latent fingerprints. The glue reacts with the proteins left behind when a person touches something producing a visible fingerprint.

3. Ballerinas who dance en pointe harden the inner sole and interior box of their shoes with cyanoacrylates to make them last longer.

4. Food stylists use cyanoacrylates to keep food in place during photography shoots.

Great Advancements in Medical HistoryA partial list of inventions and practices by Hobart and William Smith alums

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell 1849The first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S., Blackwell was a pioneer in educating women in medicine and is credited with opening the first U.S. training school for nurses in 1873.

Dr. Steven Phillips ’62 Phillips pioneered the techniques for emergency coronary bypass surgery for evolving heart attacks. His emergency intervention is the universal standard of care. He cofounded the Iowa Heart Center and invented the technology used to perform the less-invasive percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass.

Dr. Joy Schildkraut Glaser ’62, P’89, P’97Glaser was a member of the team that discovered that extra-hepatic biliary atresia (a disease of the liver ducts in infants) is not congenital and is in fact caused by Reovirus 3 in about 60 percent of cases.

Dr. Edward J. Tapper ’64Tapper was on the team that discovered the enteric nervous system in the gastrointestinal tract. He also developed new drug treatments for GI (peptic ulcer and inflammatory bowel disease), hepatitis B and C, cardiology and kidney transplant rejection.

Dr. Stephen G. Gerzof ’64Gerzof, a radiologist, challenged the prevailing surgical opinion and developed procedures to cure abdominal abscesses without surgery.

Dr. Priscilla A. Schaffer ’64, Sc.D.’94Schaffer illuminated the molecular chain of events that facilitates herpes simplex virus replication and enables antiviral drugs to combat herpes virus infections.

Colin Offenhartz ’65, P’09 Offenhartz developed EXU-DRY, a one-piece wound dressing that revolutionized care for severely burned patients.

To learn more about the medical minds behind these innovations, visit www.hws.edu/alumni/pssurvey.

HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COL LEG ES 11