Cocooning Therapeutic Cells

使用未分化细胞（干细胞和祖细胞）的医学疗法正在出现，并正在定义再生医学的新时代。 药我们提出的研究目标是开发一种细胞包封工艺， 患有严重的危及生命的疾病具体来说，我们正在与加拿大的北方治疗公司合作， 该公司是一家生物技术公司，开发了用于肺部疾病的新的有效的自体细胞疗法。一 新细胞疗法的基本限制是目前繁琐的细胞预处理过程， 将其技术广泛商业化。为了解决这一未满足的关键细胞处理需求，我们 组建了一个由物理学和生命科学研究人员组成的团队，开发一种可扩展的基于微流体的干细胞 本发明提供了一种包封方法，其将允许快速且可再现地制造单细胞胶囊。这些胶囊 将补充新的仿生基质，包括专门设计用于增强细胞增殖的生物纳米颗粒， 功能和器官特异性移植，并且这种方式增强了细胞的治疗效果。如果这项研究成功， 将广泛应用于再生医学领域，对慢性病患者有显著的益处， 加拿大公司的全球竞争力，并刺激加拿大经济发展，在一个新兴的 市场

Medical therapies using undifferentiated cells (stem and progenitor) are emerging and are defining a new era in regenerative medicine. Our proposed research study targets the development of a cell encapsulation process for delivery to patients suffering from severe life-threatening disorders. Specifically, we are working with Northern Therapeutics, a Canadian biotechnology company that has developed new and effective autologous cell therapies for pulmonary diseases. A fundamental limitation to new cell therapies is the currently cumbersome cell pre-conditioning process that limits the widespread commercialization of their technology. To address this unmet and critical cell processing need, we have assembled a team of researchers from both physics and the life sciences to develop a scalable microfluidics-based stem cell encapsulation procedure that will allow for the rapid and reproducible manufacture of single-cell capsules. These capsules will be supplemented with novel biomimetic matrices that include bionanoparticles specifically designed to enhance cell function and organ-specific engraftment, and this way enhance the therapeutic effect of the cells. If successful this research will be widely applicable to the field of regenerative medicine, be of marked benefit to chronically ill patients, aide in the global competitiveness of a Canadian company, and stimulate economic development in Canada in an emerging new market.