Technology Summary

Using click chemistry to enable specific bioconjugations, Penn State researchers have leveraged the body’s own immune cells to transform the way stem cells are delivered for tissue engineering. For instance, enzyme-sensitive degradable peptides can be used to link stem cells and immune cells together. When these cell assemblies are injected into muscle tissue, such as ischemic cardiac tissue, the immune cells bind and reside in the inflamed cardiac tissue, improving the immune response to promote vascularization and wound healing. Furthermore, the bound stem cells are retained at the site of inflammation and will eventually be released from the immune cells through degradation of the peptide linker by matrix metalloproteinases in ischemic cardiac tissue. The figure above is an illustration of immune-cell-mediated stem cell delivery for cardiac tissue regeneration.