Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Millions of people suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI) annually and many subsequently develop AD-like characteristics, but the processes occurring in the brain and the reasons for the acquisition of AD-like dementia are unknown. TBI is the leading cause of mortality in young adults and causes a huge socioeconomic burden. Improving outcomes in these patients would be a significant public health benefit.

Cytoprotection of Human Progenitor and Stem Cells through Encapsulation in Alginate Templated, Dual Crosslinked Silk and Silk-Gelatin Composite Hydrogel Microbeads.

Susceptibility of mammalian cells against harsh processing conditions limit their use in cell transplantation and tissue engineering applications. Besides modulation of the cell microenvironment, encapsulation of mammalian cells within hydrogel microbeads attract attention for cytoprotection through physical isolation of the encapsulated cells. The hydrogel formulations used for cell microencapsulation are largely dominated by ionically crosslinked alginate (Alg), which suffer from low structural stability under physiological culture conditions and poor cell-matrix interactions.