Tailored alginate hydrogel microbeads: Reducing immune responses that hamper their use in cell therapy

NTNU Health

Tailored alginate hydrogel microbeads: Reducing immune responses that hamper their use in cell therapy


The encapsulation of cells in alginate hydrogel microbeads is a promising approach to treat diseases such as acute liver failure, haemophilia, and type 1 diabetes. Alginate is an excellent biomaterial for cell encapsulation due to its biocompatibility and ability to form gels that are well tolerated by cells. However, its clinical use is hampered by immune responses that result in the formation of fibrotic tissue enclosing the microbeads. The latter limits the long-term function of encapsulated cells by restricting access to oxygen and nutrients.


To ensure the long-lasting therapeutic efficacy of encapsulated cells, a deep insight into the mechanisms that trigger fibrotic overgrowth on alginate hydrogels is required. Our project aims at investigating protein adsorption to alginate microbeads, which is the key to fibrosis formation. The results will aid both in understanding biomaterial-host interactions and designing of novel biomaterials for biomedical applications.


The multidisciplinary collaboration between experts in bioinformatics, biopolymers and biomaterials, cell therapy, epigenetics, immunology, molecular biology, and proteomics will break the ground for:

  • Designing new fibrosis-free biopolymer hydrogels
  • Revealing surface patterns of proteins on the beads exposed to human blood and after implantation in mice 
  • Connecting the surface patterns to the acute phase response and inflammatory patterns 
  • Investigating the materials impact on monocytes to macrophages maturation
  • Investigating the fibrosis in mice models


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Project leader

Berit Løkensgard Strand
Professor
berit.l.strand@ntnu.no
+47-73594069

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Project participants

Alessandro Brambilla
Postdoc
alessandro.brambilla@ntnu.no
Joachim Sebastian Kjesbu
Postdoctoral fellow
joachim.s.kjesbu@ntnu.no
+4745056710
Kalaiyarasi Ragunathan
kalaiyarasi.ragunathan@ntnu.no
Anne Mari A. Rokstad
Associate professor in human toxicology
anne.m.rokstad@ntnu.no
+4793084332
Geir Slupphaug
Professor in molecular biology and scientific leader of PROMEC
geir.slupphaug@ntnu.no
+47-73598608
+4791825455
+4772573076