Scientists at the University of Michigan, United States, have made, for the first time, biodegradable polymers that can self-assemble into hollow, nanofiber spheres, which can, when injected with cells into wounds, biodegrade, but the cells live on to form new tissue. The discovery is a very significant advance in tissue repair, according to Peter Ma, a professor at the U of M School of Dentistry and lead author of a paper about the research. Tissue repair is difficult, and success is extremely limited by a shortage of donor tissue. This technique gives hope to people with certain types of cartilage injuries for which there are not good treatments. The nanofiber spheres provide an environment in which the cells naturally thrive, so by the time they degrade at the wound site, the cells they are carrying have already gotten a good start at growing. In laboratory tests, the nanofiber repair group grew as much as three to four times more tissue than the control group, said Ma. The next step will be to try the new cell carrier in larger animals and eventually in people. The team’s findings will be published in the journal Nature Materials. The article can be viewed online at the link below.