Maintaining functional islets through encapsulation in an injectable saccharide-peptide hydrogel.

Islet transplantation offers a promising treatment for type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, a major hurdle in this treatment is the rapid loss of functional islets during culture and after transplantation. The liver site, currently utilized for transplantation, is suboptimal for achieving long-term insulin independence due to a rapid islet loss followed by a chronic decline in islet function after transplantation.

Biodegradable and biocompatible synthetic saccharide-Peptide hydrogels for three-dimensional stem cell culture.

Saccharide-peptide hydrogels have been developed in our laboratory as new synthetic extracellular matrices for regenerative medicine applications. In this work, we have expanded on our previously reported system and applied copolymerization of cysteine (Cys) and vinyl sulfone (VS)-functionalized saccharide-peptide polymers via Michael-type addition for encapsulation and 3D culture of cells. Specifically, our aims were to (1) develop a novel hydrogel platform, which could be applied for encapsulating and culturing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a 3D environment, (2) characterize the tunable properties of the hydrogel, specifically, degradation, mechanical, and gel network properties, and (3) determine the biocompatibility of the saccharide-peptide hydrogel material with MSCs.

De novo design of saccharide-peptide hydrogels as synthetic scaffolds for tailored cell responses.

A new class of functional saccharide-peptide copolymer-based hydrogels was synthesized and investigated as synthetic extracellular matrices for regenerative medicine applications. The polymer was composed entirely of natural building blocks, namely, galactaric acid and lysine on the backbone, with tyrosine grafted onto the side chain as a handle for enzyme-catalyzed hydrogelation. The resulting hydrogels are degradable under simulated physiological conditions and exhibit minimal cytotoxicity on dermal fibroblast and PC-12 cells.

A novel time-varying poly lactic-co glycolic acid external sheath for vein grafts designed under physiological loading.

Changes in dimensional and mechanical properties of degradable sheaths in poly lactic-co glycolic acid (PLGA) have been researched extensively. Composite PLGA having variable resorption rates in multiple layers under physiological loading has not been reported. Our novel design of a PLGA sheath is composed of 3 layers with different degradation rates (i.