Zhixin Xue

Zhixin Xue is a multi-disciplinary designer. Interested in the intersection of design, emerging materials and sustainability issues. Her design practice focuses on the exploration of waste materials and by-products to create new materials and promote sustainable development. In the past year of study in rca, she explored the waste of life. The properties of expired milk extracts were found. And use it to create a low-cost, biodegradable leather that can replace artificial, animal leather.

She remained curious about the world and finally broke out of her comfort zone. Explore emerging technologies and seek innovative ways. Hope to use design to influence society.

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Degree Details

I come from a landscape design background, which makes me very concerned about sustainable and environmental issues. And eager to explore the infinite creativity through the understanding of different professional knowledge. In the past year's study of design producets, I have acquired phase knowledge of biological materials, mechanical structure and interaction. I found that I was very interested in materials. Through the exploration of different material structures, I seek to create new material opportunities.

My design practice makes an impact by studying emerging materials, waste by-products, circulatory systems, and human behavior. I hope my design can have a positive impact on the sustainable industry.

Introduction

The AquaDerm range of fish skin dressings aims to combine biomaterials with the medical field, using tilapia fish skin, which is treated as a by-product, to provide patients with a low-cost, wound-healing dressing.

In terms of efficacy Tilapia skin has the same type I collagen as human skin, as well as EPA, DHA and omega-3 in the skin to reduce inflammation and promote rapid wound healing. It can be used on different types of wounds, such as lacerations and burns (superficial secondary, deep secondary, superficial tertiary)

Compared to conventional dressings. Shorter recovery period, no need for frequent dressing changes, pain relief, good tension and waterproof breathability.

Cost Tilapia is an invasive species in China, flooding several water bodies in the south.

In the UK, tilapia skins are discarded as a by-product. And it costs money to dispose of fish skins discarded by fisheries.

Tilapia is cheap to utilise and when an industry is formed, it can bring some economic benefits.

Although tilapia skin dressings have been used clinically at this stage, they are not widely available because they are not easy to store and are cumbersome to handle. In this regard, we focus on packaging preservation and user experience optimisation, so that it can be more easily used in everyday scenarios and medical scenarios.

In terms of user experience, the size of the tilapia dressing is limited by the size of the dressing, so we have combined this with a stretchable structure to expand the area of the dressing.We have divided the tilapia dressing into different scenarios for the specific design of the dressing, the daily scenario and the medical scenario.

1. The daily scenario is aimed at small wounds (lacerations, superficial second degree burns, etc.) and is stored in glycerine at room temperature.

2. The medical scenario is designed for large burns (deep second degree burns and shallow third degree burns) and is stored under refrigeration.

Medium: Fishskin

Size: 20*30cm

It is extracted from the skin of tilapia — Tilapia skin has the same type I collagen as human skin, as well as EPA, DHA and omega-3 in the skin to reduce inflammation and promote rapid wound healing. It can be used on different types of wounds, such as lacerations and burns (superficial secondary, deep secondary, superficial tertiary)

Medium: Tilapia skin

Size: 9*9cm

Medium: Fish skin

The dressing can be pulled up after hydration

Surgical dressing — Available in pull-up and non-pull-up forms, this medical dressing is suitable for large wounds larger than 7 inches.

The structure on the band-aid will fit the joint well

Liquid Band-Aids — It is prepared by extracting type I collagen from tilapia skin

Complete decellularized tilapia skin — Tilapia skin is decellularized and sterilized before it can be used as a medical material. Decellularization is to remove substances that can cause allergies to the body. Sterilization is the removal of infectious material

Medium: Fish skin

Milk leather

Biodegradable bio-leather made from expired milk extract (milk casein) can be used to replace the use of animal and artificial leather. When people use bio-leather, it is not only durable, low cost, and easily biodegradable.

Milk is the third most wasted of all edible products, with approximately 490 million tonnes wasted each year.Milk casein (a protein fibre) is extracted from milk. It is made to form a leather-like material.It normally takes 15 years for animal leather to degrade. Synthetic leather takes over 500 years. The burden on the environment is high. Milk leather is easily degradable and just as durable as animal leather, but at a lower cost.