Repairing tissue by injecting cells into the body could soon be a reality thanks to UBCO research

Injecting cells into body parts to regrow damaged tissue could be “supercharged” thanks to researchers at UBC Okanagan.

Scientists at the university say they have solved a problem that could make the dream a reality.

Keekyoung Kim, the study’s co-author, said everything from broken bones to torn ligaments to entire organs could be repaired by injecting cells.

The problem with the procedure, however, is that cells are delicate and often do not survive after being injected straight 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,” explained Mohamed Gamal, doctoral student in biomedical engineering and the study’s 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.”

The scientists say they have solved the problem by creating a device that encases some of the cells in a microgel.

Over 85% of the cells survived when encased in the gel.

“Research in this area has been hampered by the cost and lack of availability of mass-produced cell encapsulated microgels,” said Kim.

“We’ve solved that problem and our system could provide thousands or even tens of thousands of cell-encapsulated microgels rapidly, supercharging this field of bioengineering.”