A simple injection that can help regrow damaged tissue has long been the dream of physicians and patients alike.
A simple injection that can help regrow damaged tissue has long been the dream of physicians and patients alike. A new study from researchers at UBC Okanagan takes a big step towards making that dream a reality with a device that makes encapsulating cells much faster, cheaper and more effective.
“The idea of injecting different kinds of tissue cells is not a new one,” says Keekyoung Kim, assistant professor of engineering at UBC Okanagan and study co-author. “It’s an enticing concept because by introducing cells into damaged tissue, we can supercharge the body’s own processes to regrow and repair an injury.”
Kim says everything from broken bones to torn ligaments could benefit from this kind of approach and suggests even whole organs could be repaired as the technology improves.
The problem, he says, is that cells on their own are delicate and tend not to survive when injected directly into the body.
“It turns out that to ensure cell survival, they need to be encased in a coating that protects them from physical damage and from the body’s own immune system,” says Mohamed Gamal, doctoral student in biomedical engineering and study lead author. “But it has been extremely difficult to do that kind of cell encapsulation, which has until now been done in a very costly, time consuming and wasteful process.”
Read more at University of British Columbia Okanagan campus
