Columbia engineers create bioactive hydrogels using dairy vehicles

Researchers from Columbia Engineering have established a framework for the design of bioactive injectable hydrogels formulated with extracellular vesicles (electric vehicles) for tissue engineering. In addition, regenerative medicine applications. Moreover,

Published today in MatterSantiago Correa. Nevertheless, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, and his collaborators describe an injectable hydrogel platform which uses electric milk vehicles to approach longtime barriers in the development of biomaterials for regenerative medicine. Consequently, EVs are particles naturally secreted by cells. Furthermore, transport hundreds of biological signals, such as proteins and genetic materials, allowing sophisticated cellular communication that synthetic materials cannot easily reproduce.

In this study. However, Correa and its colleagues have designed a hydrogel system where electric vehicles play a double role: they act as bioactive freight but also serve as essential structural construction columbia engineers create bioactive hydrogels blocks, in retication of biocompatible polymers to form an injectable material. Therefore, Using an unconventional approach that exploited EV milk from yogurt. For example, the team was able to overcome the yield constraints that hinder the development of biomaterials based on electric vehicles. Nevertheless, Yogurt electric vehicles allowed hydrogel to imitate the mechanics of living tissue. In addition, actively engage in the surrounding cells, to promote healing and regeneration of tissues without the need for additional chemical additives.

“This project began as a basic question about how to build hydrogels based on EV. For example, Yogurt electric vehicles have given us a practical tool for this. but they turned out to be more than a model, “said Correa who led the study with Artemis Margaronis, a NSF graduate researcher in Correa Lab. “We found that they had an inherent regeneration potential, which opens the door to new accessible therapeutic materials. columbia engineers create bioactive hydrogels »»

Correa directs the nanometric immuno-engineering laboratory of Columbia University, where his research focuses on the delivery of drugs and immuno-engineering. He is also a member of the Herbert Irving I comprehensive Cancer Center. collaborated on this project with Kam Leong, another member of the faculty of Columbia engineering. The study was reinforced by international collaboration with researchers from the University of Padova. notably Elisa Cimetta (Department of Industrial Engineering) and the student graduate Caterina Piutunta. By combining the expertise of the Padova team in the agriculture of electric vehicle vehicles with the experience of Correa Lab in nanomaterials. hydrogels based on polymers, the team has demonstrated the power of interdisciplinary global partnerships in the progression of biomaterial innovation.

By using electric vehicles derived from yogurt. the team has defined a design space to generate hydrogels which incorporate electric vehicles as structural and organic elements. They also validated the approach columbia engineers create bioactive hydrogels using electric vehicles derived from mammal cells. bacteria, demonstrating that the platform is modular and compatible with various sources of vesicles. This could open the door to advanced applications for wounds healing. regenerative medicine, where current treatments are not below the promotion of long -term tissue repair. By integrating electric vehicles directly into the hydrogel structure, the material allows the sustained delivery of their bioactive signals. Because hydrogel is injectable, it can also be delivered locally to damaged tissues.

The first experiments show that the hydrogels of the EV yogurt are biocompatible. stimulate a powerful angiogenic activity in one week in immunocompetent mice, demonstrating that the agricultural and not only the search for fundamental biomaterials but also have a therapeutic potential as new generation biotechnology. In mice. the material has not shown no sign of undesirable reaction and rather favored the formation of new blood vessels, a key step in columbia engineers create bioactive hydrogels effective tissue regeneration. The Correa team has also observed that hydrogel creates a unique immune environment enriched in types of anti-inflammatory cells. which can contribute to the processes of repair of the observed tissues. The team now explores how this immune response could help guide the regeneration of fabrics.

Being able to design a material that closely imitates the natural environment of the body while accelerating the. healing process opens up a new world of possibilities for regenerative medicine. Moments like these remind me why the field of research in biomedical engineering is always at the dawn of. something exciting. “”

Artemis Margaronis, a researcher graduated from the NSF