Research & Development World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

Nanofiber spheres carrying cells into wounds help grow tissue

By R&D Editors | April 18, 2011

Nanosphere

Image: Peter Ma

For the first time, scientists have made star-shaped,
biodegradable polymers that can self-assemble into hollow, nanofiber spheres,
and when the spheres are injected with cells into wounds, these spheres
biodegrade, but the cells live on to form new tissue.

Developing this nanofiber sphere as a cell carrier that
simulates the natural growing environment of the cell is a very significant
advance in tissue repair, says Peter Ma, professor at the Univ. of Michigan
School of Dentistry and lead author of a paper about the research scheduled for
advanced online publication in Nature
Materials
. Co-authors are Xiaohua Liu and Xiaobing Jin.

Repairing tissue is very difficult and success is extremely
limited by a shortage of donor tissue, says Ma, who also has an appointment at
the U-M College of Engineering. The procedure gives hope to people with certain
types of cartilage injuries for which there aren’t good treatments now. It also
provides a better alternative to ACI, which is a clinical method of treating
cartilage injuries where the patient’s own cells are directly injected into the
patient’s body. The quality of the tissue repair by the ACI technique isn’t good
because the cells are injected loosely and are not supported by a carrier that
simulates the natural environment for the cells, Ma says.

To repair complex or oddly shaped tissue defects, an
injectable cell carrier is desirable to achieve accurate fit and to minimize
surgery, he says. Ma’s lab has been working on a biomimetic strategy to design
a cell matrix—a system that copies biology and supports the cells as they grow
and form tissue—using biodegradable nanofibers.

Ma says the nanofibrous hollow microspheres are highly
porous, which allows nutrients to enter easily, and they mimic the functions of
cellular matrix in the body. Additionally, the nanofibers in these hollow
microspheres do not generate much degradation byproducts that could hurt the
cells, he says.

The nanofibrous hollow spheres are combined with cells and
then injected into the wound. When the nanofiber spheres, which are slightly
bigger than the cells they carry, degrade at the wound site, the cells they are
carrying have already gotten a good start growing because the nanofiber spheres
provide an environment in which the cells naturally thrive.

This approach has been more successful than the traditional
cell matrix currently used in tissue growth, he says. Until now, there has been
no way to make such a matrix injectable so it’s not been used to deliver cells
to complex-shaped wounds.

During testing, the nanofiber repair group grew as much as
three to four times more tissue than the control group, Ma says. The next step
is to see how the new cell carrier works in larger animals and eventually in
people to repair cartilage and other tissue types.

SOURCE

Related Articles Read More >

First CRISPR-edited spider spins red fluorescent silk
KIST carbon nanotube supercapacitor holds capacity after 100,000 cycles
A new wave of metalworking lets semiconductor crystals bend and stretch
LLNL deposits quantum dots on corrugated IR chips in a single step
rd newsletter
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest info on technologies, trends, and strategies in Research & Development.
RD 25 Power Index

R&D World Digital Issues

Fall 2024 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R&D magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • R&D World Home
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Careers
    • Chemistry
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Software
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
    • Semiconductors
  • R&D Market Pulse
  • R&D 100
    • Call for Nominations: The 2025 R&D 100 Awards
    • R&D 100 Awards Event
    • R&D 100 Submissions
    • Winner Archive
    • Explore the 2024 R&D 100 award winners and finalists
  • Resources
    • Research Reports
    • Digital Issues
    • R&D Index
    • Subscribe
    • Video
    • Webinars
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Top Labs
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE