Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a microfluidic approach to trap individual cells within a hydrogel material that can be tuned to match the physiological conditions of the body, according to a study published this week in Nature Materials.
Previous work has shown hydrogels are effective materials for manipulating cells and tissues because of their biocompatibility, but only with large groups of cells, like the alginate hydrogel capsules filled with pancreatic islet cells that are implanted into diabetic patients. However, as the team acknowledges, these capsules eventually become surrounded by thick scar tissue and are rendered useless.
Get the full story at our sister site, Drug Delivery Business News.