New Injectable Gels Toughen Up After Entering the Body
Date: 10.12.2012
Gels that can be injected into the body, carrying drugs or cells that regenerate damaged tissue, hold promise for treating many types of disease, including cancer. However, these injectable gels don't always maintain their solid structure once inside the body.
MIT chemical engineers have now designed an injectable gel that responds to the body's high temperature by forming a reinforcing network that makes the gel much more durable, allowing it to function over a longer period of time.
The research team, led by Bradley Olsen, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, described the new gels in a recent issue of the journal Advanced Functional Materials. When exposed to mechanical stress -- such as being pushed through an injection needle -- these gels flow like fluid. But once inside the body, the gels return to their normal solid-like state.
Shear thinning gels can be made with many different materials (including polymers such as polyethylene glycol, or PEG), but Olsen's lab is focusing on protein hydrogels, which are appealing because they can be designed relatively easily to promote biological functions such as cellular adhesion and cell migration.
