Gel-like padding that could help cells survive injections and heal spinal cord injuries

A team of engineers and scientists is developing a gel to help protect cells from the trauma of being injected into an injury site. The work could help speed cell-based therapies for spinal cord injuries and other types of damage.

It is a turbulent and sometimes deadly life for cells injected to heal injuries. The act of being squirted through a thin needle into the site of an injury jostles the delicate cells against each other and against the needle walls. Then, once in the site of injury, they face a biological war zone of chemicals. It’s no wonder, then, that treating spinal cord injuries and other damage with injected cells has been a challenge.

Solving this problem takes more than biological know-how; it takes padding