Jeff Karp of the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School said the new bandage could be used to reseal the intestine after the removal of a segment or patch a hole caused by an ulcer. Since the bandage can be folded and unfolded, it also has the potential of being used in minimally invasive surgical procedures preformed through very small incisions.

The new "stay-in-place-till-it-biodegrades" bandage uses gecko-like nanoscale patterns in "biorubber" that is coated with a sugar-like adhesive, Karp said in a statement.

This bandage "is something we never expect to remove," Karp said in a statement."We're not mimicking the gecko -- which has sticky paws but can still lift them up to walk -- we are inspired by the gecko to create a patterned interface to enhance the surface area of contact and thus the overall strength of adhesion."

The findings are published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.