Now, injectable sponge to deliver drugs and cells inside body A
gel-based sponge that can be molded to any shape, loaded with
drugs or stem cells, compressed to a fraction of its size, and
delivered via injection has been developed by Harvard
bioengineers. Once inside the body, it pops back to its original
shape and gradually releases its cargo, before safely degrading.
The biocompatible technology amounts to a prefabricated healing
kit for a range of minimally invasive therapeutic applications,
including regenerative medicine. "What we've created is a three-
dimensional structure that you could use to influence the cells
in the tissue surrounding it and perhaps promote tissue
formation," explained principal investigator David J. Mooney,
Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and a
Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically
Inspired Engineering at Harvard. "The simplest application is
when you want bulking. If you wan