Encapsulated Stem Cells Could Accelerate Wound Healing

A team of Cornell University scientists has shown that equine stem cells confined inside tiny capsules secrete substances that help heal simulated wounds in cell cultures, opening up new ways of delivering these substances to the locations in the body where they can hasten healing. The capsules need to be tested to see if they help healing in live horses, but they could eventually lead to “living bandage” technologies, wound dressings embedded with capsules of stem cells to help the underlying wound regenerate.

“The encapsulation seems to increase the stem cells’ regenerative potential,” said Gerlinde Van de Walle, DVM, PhD, an assistant professor of viral pathogenesis at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine’s Baker Institute for Animal Health, in Ithaca, New York, adding that the reasons why are no