Hydrogels are commonly used inside the body to help in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. However, once inside, they can be challenging to control for optimal use. A team of researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University is developing a new way to manipulate the gel by using light.
Lighting up hydrogels
A new class of hydrogels leverage light for better drug delivery and regenerative medicine treatment.
Graduate student Patrick Lee (pictured) is working to develop new light-responsive hydrogel. Image credit: Texas A&M Engineering
Hydrogels are commonly used inside the body to help in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. However, once inside, they can be challenging to control. A team of researchers led by Professor Akhilesh Gaharwar of Texas A&M University is developing a new way to manipulate the gel by using light.
Light is a particularly attractive source of energy as it can be confined to a predefined area as well as be fine-tuned by the time or intensity of light exposure. Light-responsive hydrogels are an emerging class of materials used for developing noninvasive, noncontact, precise, and controllable medical devices in a wide range of biomedical applications, including photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, drug delivery, and regenerative m
Above: A four-week-old pig embryo containing human cells. Scientists at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California grew this chimera in 2017. (U.S. Salk Institute/Xinhua/Alamy)
Researchers from the United States and China announced in April that they had created the first ever human–primate chimeras. Mixing human stem cells with macaque monkey embryos, the scientists produced creatures with cells from both species.
The creation of such beings is deeply troubling, and raises questions about why it was done and where it might lead. What is the point of this research? Will we have monkeys with human features running around the nation’s laboratories? Who is making the decisions about where to draw the line between research we should want and research we shouldn’t?
New Class of Hydrogels can Leverage Light for Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine
Written by AZoNanoJun 3 2021
Hydrogels are commonly used inside the body to help in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. However, once inside, they can be challenging to control for optimal use. A team of researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University is developing a new way to manipulate the gel by using light.
Graduate student Patrick Lee and Dr. Akhilesh Gaharwar, associate professor, are developing a new class of hydrogels that can leverage light in a multitude of ways. Light is a particularly attractive source of energy as it can be confined to a predefined area as well as be finetuned by the time or intensity of light exposure. Their work was recently published in the journal
Hydrogels are commonly used inside the body to help in tissue regeneration and drug delivery. However, once inside, they can be challenging to control for optimal use. A team of researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University is developing a new way to manipulate the gel by using light.