Category Archives: Research Highlights

Clay is Good to the Bone – Osteoporosis Disease Model

Institutions: King Fahd University, Saudi Arabia; Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Medical University, Bahrain; and the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Pakistan Team: Abduljauwad, S.N., Habib, T., and ur-Rehman, H. Disease Model: Osteoporosis Hydrogel: VitroGel® 3D The combination of clay microparticles and VitroGel hydrogel appears to promote osteogenesis in human mesenchymal stem […]

Shaking Up Tumors with Sound and Bubbles

Institutions: Cheng Hsin General Hospital and National Taiwan University, Taiwan Team: Chen, K.-W., Hsu, P.-H., Huang, H.-L., Liu, H.-L., Lin, Y.-T., Hsu, C.-Y., Lin, J.-H., and Lin, Y.-H. Disease Model: Gastric Cancer Hydrogel: VitroGel® 3D Antitumor drugs can be delivered to tumors with nanoparticles and microbubbles, and then the uptake of the drugs can be […]

Fighting Pancreatic Cancer – Two Drugs are Better Than One

Institutions: Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea and the University of Oxford Team: Hong, H., Barczak W., Park, S., Heo, J.S., Ooshima, A., Munro, S., Hong, C.P., Park, J., An, H., Park, J.O., Park, S.H., La Thangue, N.B., and Kim, S.-J. Disease Model: Pancreatic Cancer Hydrogel: VitroGel® Hydrogel Matrix A combination therapy of two antitumor drugs shows […]

Mice Recruited to Help Fight Cancer of the Thymus

Institutions: Gifu Graduate School of Medicine, Japan Team: Niwa, R., Hanamatsu Y., Kito, Y., Saigo, C., and Takeuchi, T. Disease Model: Thymic Cancer Hydrogel: VitroGel® Hydrogel Matrix A mouse model of thymic cancer is described, and the results show that viral infection may not always be the cause. In this paper, a team of oncologists […]

Look Ma, No Oxygen! A SCAPs Journey

Institutions: University of Bordeaux, France Team: Mavinga, M., et al. Disease Model: Stem Cell Migration and Bone Regeneration Hydrogel: VitroGel® Hydrogel Matrix Stem cells grown under hypoxic (3% O2) conditions appear to proliferate more rapidly, aiding their maturation into bone or teeth tissue. SCAPs (Stem Cells from Apical Papilla) embedded in VitroGel Hydrogel Matrix and […]

Choking Out Lymphoma in Dogs – Intestinal T-Cell Lymphoma

Institutions: Rakuno Gakuen University School of Veterinary Medicine, and Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan Team: Yamazaki, H., Tanaka, T., Nishida, H., Hatoya, S., and Akiyoshi, H. Disease Model: Intestinal T-Cell Lymphoma Hydrogel: VitroGel® RGD The drug evofosfamide is active under low oxygen conditions, those same conditions that tend to aid in lymphoma tumor growth. This fortuitous […]

A “Knockout” Antibody for White Blood Cell Studies

Institutions: University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands Team: Olofsen, P.A., Stip, M.C., Marco Jansen, J.H., Chan, C., Nederend, M., Tieland, R.G., Tsioumpekou, M., and Leusen, J.H.W. Disease Model: Cancer Hydrogel: VitroGel® Hydrogel Matrix Neutrophils can be incapacitated with a new antibody, injected into mice with the help of VitroGel Hydrogel Matrix, and then assayed for […]

Cells: Prepare Yourself to Make Cartilage

Institutions:IRCCS Instituto Orthopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy Team:Gabusi, E., Lenzi, E., Manferdini, C., Dolzani, P., Columbaro, M., Saleh, Y., and Lisignoli, G. Disease Model:Osteoarthritis Hydrogel:VitroGel® RGD Stem cells embedded in VitroGel Hydrogel 3G RGD matrix can display autophagy, allowing a critical examination of this process in the differentiation into healthy chondrocytes. When a cell starts to […]

Hydrogels and Light – A powerful Anticancer Duo

  Institutions:Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology and Tongji University, China Team:Yu, Y., Wu, X., Wang, M., Liu, W., Zhang, L., Zhang, Y., Hu, Z., Zhou, X., Jiang, Q., Cai, F., and Ye, H. Disease Model:Melanoma Hydrogel:VitroGel® 3D Engineered light-activated cytokine delivering cells can be encapsulated in VitroGel hydrogel for more efficient delivery to tissues […]

VitroGel Hydrogel as a Nurturing Matrix for Healing the Uterus

Institutions: Hospital of China Medical University and Key Laboratory of Reproductive Dysfunction Diseases and Fertility Remodeling, China Team: Hao, X., Zhang, S., Li, P., Huang, J., Yuan, Z., and Tan, J. Disease Model: Intrauterine adhesions Hydrogel: VitroGel® RGD The VitroGel RDG hydrogel matrix can assist in delivering mesenchymal stem cells to treat intrauterine adhesions and […]