Shape-Shifting Gel Condom Changes From Liquid to Solid To Block HIV

By Clay Dillow Posted 08.11.2009 at 5:26 pm 6 Comments

Bye bye latex? David Sim/Flickr

Though the University of Utah in Salt Lake City might not be the first place one would expect to find researchers getting experimental in the bedroom, a team of scientists there have developed a new gel that can quickly shift from liquid to solid, for use in a vaginal condom that more easily protects against both pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

The gel remains in a liquid state as long as it is in contact with the acidity normally found in the vagina, but turns solid when introduced to the alkalinity of semen. Once solid, anything larger than 50 nanometers wide, including sperm and viruses like herpes, papilloma virus, and HIV, is trapped.

Previous attempts to create microbicide gels to prevent HIV transmission have failed, but in lab tests in which HIV was stained with fluorescent dye and introduced to the gel, it successfully solidified and trapped the virus. The objective is to give women in HIV epidemic areas a more practical, easy-to-use line of defense that doesn't depend on their male partners wearing a condom themselves.

But though initial tests look promising, don’t get hot and bothered just yet; it will be three to five years before clinical trials begin. In the meantime, the U of U crew will try to ratchet up the potency of the gel by mating it with an anti-HIV drug that would kill the virus once it is trapped.

[via New Scientist]

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6 Comments

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Andrew Foose

08/11/09 at 8:59 pm

Neat. Magic shell in condom form. This seems like it could be really helpful. Although perhaps hardening with increased heat might be even safer.

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dopplerthesexybeast

08/12/09 at 1:01 am

I'm skeptical of things like this. For one, does this work like dropping a seed crystal into a super-saturated solution? In other words, when the guy blows his load and the semen is released near the cervix, is the solid going to spread to non-spermy areas? Presumably, the act of sex itself would thoroughly coat the inside of a vagina with the squirty condom; such a "condom" would only be feasible if one drop of semen anywhere on the liquid would instantly "freeze" and spread to all contiguous parts of the liquid, otherwise full-coverage protection is not offered. And then you have to wonder, once this thing solidifies, how do you get it out? Do you have to reach in and scrape it out? Does it fall out? Could you just queef it out? How would you get this off of a man?

But most of all, since this "condom" solidifies upon contact with semen, what protection, if any, does it offer from diseases that are not spread through semen but rather through skin contact, like herpes, genital warts, and syphilis? If it offers no protection, then you're essentially barebacking without barebacking, and two weeks later you could find some funny-looking spots on your junk. Does it even protect against HIV infection from the woman to the man, which needs no emission of semen to occur?

If this technology was impregnated (no pun intended) with anti-viral, anti-bacterial, spermicidal ingredients and managed to instantly seed-freeze all the way through, as well as being both easily removable from a man and a woman, there might really be something to it. Until then, I'll stick to my rubbers and pills.

Alice Reilly
Department of Biology
Mercer University

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cknickersman

08/12/09 at 9:23 pm

> by mating it with an anti-HIV drug that would kill the virus once it is trapped

Gee, I wonder what is this drug.. :%

dopplerthesexybear
> And then you have to wonder, once this thing solidifies, how do you get it out?

good note ;)

anyway, no contraception is best ;) I mean why have sex, if u're not going to make some more kidz ;)

GET THEM PREGNANT!!!

Charlie Knickersman (not a real name)
anonymous person with some knowledge in the areas of biology, physics and math.

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nate_rio

08/18/09 at 5:13 pm

It sounds to me that the 'solid' part would only encapsulate the 'nasty' stuff whether it be HIV, semen, or the other things mentioned in the article. And then I guess it would just drip out onto the sheets like the gods intended, or swallowed, as I often suggest ;)

http://www.myspace.com/nate_rio

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mbrd71

08/18/09 at 9:24 pm

Well, not to get too explicit...but what about pre-orgasmic discharge? Stuff can come out before you actually finish. At that point does it all lock up?

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slyfist

09/11/12 at 10:57 pm

US Patent 5676977 do a search on it. Other wise known as tetrasilver tetroxide molecular crystal devices

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