Post by Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Researchers at the Wyss and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences designed Implantable Living Materials (ILMs) as a living therapeutic that uses an optimized hydrogel to safely contain synthetically engineered bacteria that are able to sense a pathogenic stimulus and respond to it by secreting a therapeutic protein within living organisms. The material itself is sufficiently “stiff” so that bacteria pushing against it from the inside can’t break it apart, and sufficiently “tough” to protect the enclosed bacteria against external physical stresses. Combined with the synthetically engineered bacteria, the new approach becomes a safe and autonomous functioning drug delivery device. Learn more about this work: https://bit.ly/4nXte24