Research at Keele Discovering Excellence | Page 19

Ongoing development
Professor El Haj’s team has gone on
to demonstrate that the technique
could be applied to a three–
dimensional structure to grow
tissue and maybe other artificial
organs. There were inherent
problems associated with the use
of mechanical forces as part of
the lab’s tissue growth chambers
known as ‘bioreactors’. Keele’s
team managed to prove that by
using alternative magnetic forces
instead of crushing mechanical
loads to stimulate tissue growth
across a range of biomaterials, the
technology could be successfully
applied to many soft, biocompatible
and biodegradable materials.
With the bioreactors successfully
proven to grow tissue, the next
challenge is to test the possibility
of growing tissue in vivo or within
the body itself. Already undertaken
successfully on mice – an experiment
which saw stem cell differentiation
and bone tissue growth enabled
remotely – the possibilities for the
human race are limitless.

If the in vivo process can be
repeated in humans, the research
team may have uncovered a
method to treat common ailments
and chronic diseases such as
arthritis without the requirement
for major surgery, artificial or
even donor organs. Indeed, a new
technique is underway to hopefully
one day establish the possibility
of doctors repairing damaged
bones and joints anywhere in the
body by simply injecting stem cells
into a patient’s arm. With the
theory established, it is hoped to
move to human trials within the
next five years.
The use of magnetic nanoparticles
opens the door to many
applications, ranging from
dynamic drug screening, which
would allow the pharmaceutical
industry to mimic the complex cell
behaviours that occur in the body
as part of new drug developments,
to the possible use of the
technique as a much more localised
anaesthesia method.

The future
Future questions centre around the
possibilities of ‘switching on’ stem
cells already present in patients’
joints, as well as potential therapies
that could see publically donated
cells being utilised. The future
existence of a universal donor cell
bank that could be grown and
processed for delivery to a patient
as and when required is now
carrying increased credibility.
Cell therapy is an exciting new
field of medical discovery and is
gaining rapid momentum. Thanks
to the revolutionary work of
Professor El Haj and her team of
tissue engineers at Keele University,
it is set to play an increasingly
important role in meeting some of
the key healthcare challenges of
the future.

“Central to the developments in cell
therapy and tissue engineering has
been the pioneering research.”

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