Bioencapsulation

When a cell or an organ is transplanted, the immune system will attack the transplanted graft and try to destroy it. By using an alginate capsule as an immunoisolating barrier, it may be possible to transplant cells without the use of immunosuppressives. Many diseases are caused by the body's inability to produce the necessary amount of a needed molecule, such as a hormone, receptor or enzyme. Cell therapy thus offers enormous potential for the treatment of numerous diseases including diabetes, cancer, Parkinson's disease and hypocalcaemia.

Alginate is a group of long polysaccharides found in seaweed and in some bacteria. Since alginate forms gels with ions such asunder physiological conditions, cells can easily be encapsulated in an alginate gel bead by mixing a solution of alginate and cell suspension and dripping it into a solution containing divalent cations. Our focus has been to develop biocompatible alginate capsules which are especially suitable for transplantation of cells.