Publications by authors named "J Leijten"

Hydrophobic microparticles are one of the most versatile structures in drug delivery and tissue engineering. These constructs offer a protective environment for hydrophobic or water-sensitive compounds (e.g.

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Extracellular matrix (ECM) guides cell behavior and tissue fate. Cell populations are notoriously heterogeneous leading to large variations in cell behavior at the single-cell level. Although insights into population heterogeneity are valuable for fundamental biology, regenerative medicine, and drug testing, current ECM analysis techniques only provide either averaged population-level data or single-cell data from a limited number of cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • Blood shortages are a significant global issue impacting healthcare, prompting research into blood substitutes like hemoglobin-based carriers and perfluorocarbons, though widespread solutions remain elusive due to safety and scalability challenges.
  • This review focuses on advances in creating artificial red blood cells, categorizing strategies as natural, synthetic, or hybrid, and highlights synthetic engineered erythrocytes as the most promising approach.
  • The article examines the biological design and functions of these synthetic cells, exploring their size, shape, deformability, and potential applications in medicine while suggesting future directions for erythrocyte engineering.
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  • * New cell-tethering and hypoxic conditioning colloidal hydrogels, which contain mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), help retain cells and improve local delivery of healing factors over time.
  • * In experiments, these hydrogels not only improved cell retention and oxygen supply but also led to better blood flow restoration and muscle healing in a mouse model of hindlimb ischemia.
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Osteoclasts, the bone resorbing cells of hematopoietic origin formed by macrophage fusion, are essential in bone health and disease. However, in vitro research on osteoclasts remains challenging due to heterogeneous cultures that only contain a few multinucleated osteoclasts. Indeed, a strategy to generate homogeneous populations of multinucleated osteoclasts in a scalable manner has remained elusive.

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