Biodegradable Patch to Repair Infants’ Hearts
“[R]esearchers at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus have developed a biodegradable patch made from the patient’s own cells that is designed to correct CHD, limit invasive surgeries, and outlast current patches. . . . . the researchers used electrospinning – the creation of nanofibers by the application of electricity to a liquid solution – to create a thick, porous scaffold out of biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) and filled it with fibrin, a protein that’s a major component of blood clots. The scaffold was then seeded with human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which, after three weeks, were observed to be more than halfway through the scaffold. Additionally, the scaffold supported spontaneously contracting iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and fostered tissue thickening.” MORE
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