Medical researchers from Louisiana State University and Northwestern University have discovered a new way to prevent inflammation and to speed up the skin's healing process. After five years of research, LSU assistant professor Wei Xu and collaborators at Northwestern University identified the gene regulation pathway, which involves the body's sodium sensor called Nax (scn7a) that triggers inflammation. They found a way to block it using a nanoparticle-carried small interference RNA (Ribonucleic acid), which enables the skin to heal faster. "This is a really novel pathway we identified,” says Xu. “Nobody has ever tried to develop a product that gets at this pathway before.” The team developed a nanoparticle that can be applied to the skin in a cream or lotion to prevent inflammation via this pathway. Their findings were published in Science Translational Medicine. Says Xu, "I think this is going to be very promising in skin disease treatments.”