A simple injection that can help regrow damaged tissue has long been the dream of physicians and patients alike.

A new study from researchers at UBC Okanagan brings it closer to reality with a device that makes encapsulating cells much faster, cheaper and more effective.

鈥淭he idea of injecting different kinds of tissue cells is not a new one,鈥� said Keekyoung Kim, assistant professor of engineering at UBC Okanagan and research study co-author.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an enticing concept because by introducing cells into damaged tissue, we can supercharge the body鈥檚 own processes to regrow and repair an injury.鈥�

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Kim says everything from broken bones to torn ligaments could benefit from this kind of approach and suggests even whole organs could be repaired as the technology improves.

The problem, he said, is that cells on their own are delicate and tend not to survive when injected directly into the body.

鈥淚t turns out that to ensure cell survival, they need to be encased in a coating that protects them from physical damage and from the body鈥檚 own immune system,鈥� said Mohamed Gamal, doctoral student in bio-medical engineering and research study lead author.

鈥淏ut it has been extremely difficult to do that kind of cell encapsulation, which has until now been done in a very costly, time consuming and wasteful process.鈥�

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Kim and Gamal have solved that problem by developing an automated encapsulation device that encases many cells in a microgel using a specialized blue laser and purifies them to produce a clean usable sample in just a few minutes.

The advantage of their system is that over 85 per cent of the cells survive and the process can be easily scaled up.

鈥淩esearch in this area has been hampered by the cost and lack of availability of mass-produced cell encapsulated microgels,鈥� said Kim.

鈥淲e鈥檝e solved that problem and our system could provide thousands or even tens of thousands of cell-encapsulated microgels rapidly, supercharging this field of bioengineering.鈥�

In addition to developing a system that鈥檚 quick and efficient, Gamal says the equipment is made up of readily available and inexpensive components.

鈥淎ny lab doing this kind of work could set up a similar system anywhere from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars, which is pretty affordable for lab equipment,鈥� said Gamal.

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The team is already looking at the next step, which will be to embed different kinds of stem cells鈥攃ells that haven鈥檛 yet differentiated into specific tissue types鈥攊nto the microgels alongside specialized proteins or hormones called growth factors.

The idea would be to help the stem cells transform into the appropriate tissue type once they鈥檙e injected.

鈥淚鈥檓 really excited to see where this technology goes next and what our encapsulated stem cells are capable of,鈥� Gamal said.

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