Explore more about: Biomaterials

Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University have developed a new synergistic approach to revascularization that combines a new framework made from granular hydrogels with micropuncture, a surgical technique. Their preclinical method could rapidly grow organized blood vessels in live rats.

Researchers have developed sugar-coated gold nanoparticles to both image and destroy biofilms. In a study, they used the nanoparticles on the teeth and wounded skin of rats and mice, eliminating biofilms in as little as one minute and outperforming common antimicrobials.

NIH-funded researchers have outlined a method to print biocompatible structures through thick, multi-layered tissues using focused ultrasound.

Introducing medical devices — commonly made of materials such as titanium, silicone, or collagen — into our bodies can elicit a host of different immune responses. While some responses can harm our bodies, others can help heal them. A new study fills in a critical piece of the puzzle.

Researchers have long recognized the therapeutic potential of using magnetoelectrics ⎯ materials that can turn magnetic fields into electric fields ⎯ to stimulate neural tissue in a minimally invasive way and help treat neurological disorders or nerve damage. A Rice University led team have designed the first magnetoelectric material that can be used to precisely stimulate neurons remotely and to bridge the gap in a broken sciatic nerve in a rat model.  Source: Rice University

Dendritic cells are key orchestrators of the immune response, but most vaccination strategies don’t effectively target them. NIBIB-funded researchers have developed biodegradable nanoparticles that are designed to deliver mRNA cargo to dendritic cells in the spleen. Combined with another type of immunotherapy, their vaccine had robust antitumor effects in multiple mouse models.

Tissue engineering research has uncovered that a skin cell type could be a new therapeutic target to accelerate the healing of burns and possibly other wounds.

NIBIB has established the Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration—BETA Center, a new intramural research program to solve a range of medicine’s most pressing problems. The BETA Center will serve the wider NIH intramural research program as a biotechnology resource and catalyst for NIH research discoveries.

NIBIB-funded researchers are developing a new method to treat pancreatic cancer. In their study, they combined an injectable radioactive gel with systemic chemotherapy in multiple mouse models of the disease. The treatment resulted in tumor regression in all evaluated models, an unprecedented result for this genetically diverse and aggressive type of cancer.

A new study shows how the brown anole lizard solves one of nature's most complex problems -- breathing -- with ultimate simplicity. Whereas human lungs develop over months and years into baroque tree-like structures, the anole lung develops in just a few days into crude lobes covered with bulbous protuberances. These gourd-like structures, while far less refined, allow the lizard to exchange oxygen for waste gases just as human lungs do. And because they grow quickly by leveraging simple mechanical processes, anole lungs provide new inspiration for engineers designing advanced biotechnologies.