| Johns Hopkins biomedical engineering students | | | | developed the patent-pending concept for |
| recently won first place in the University's Design | | | | embedding cells in sutures and procured the |
| Day 2009 competition for demonstrating a | | | | student team to do the testing. First, the student |
| practical way to embed a patient's own adult | | | | team had to locate a machine that could produce |
| stem cells in sutures. A suture (for example | | | | sutures capable of ensuring the viability of the |
| Ethicon suture, Covidien suture, or Autosuture), is | | | | cells and effectively deliver them into the tissue. |
| the surgical thread used for wound closure by | | | | The undergraduate students, in collaboration with |
| physicians. Suture needles are used to stitch | | | | orthopedic physicians, then began testing the |
| sutures into the tissue. | | | | stem cell sutures in animal models in the hopes |
| This particular application of embedding adult stem | | | | that the stem cells would considerably speed up |
| cells into surgical thread was developed for the | | | | and improve the healing process. The students |
| repair of serious orthopedic injuries such as | | | | also handled aspects such as preparing grant |
| ruptured tendons. The objective of utilizing this | | | | applications to seek additional funding. |
| technology is to enhance the healing process by | | | | Ultimately the procedure would be as follows: the |
| reducing inflammation and speed up healing by | | | | physician would procure stem cells from the bone |
| releasing growth factor proteins. The possibility of | | | | marrow in a patient's hip, embed the stem cells |
| re-injury would also be reduced. Since the cells will | | | | into the novel suture through a proprietary |
| come from the patient, rejection should not be an | | | | process, and then stitch together the orthopedic |
| issue. So far preliminary test results are | | | | injury in the normal way with suture needles using |
| promising-indications show that the cells attached | | | | the specially prepared sutures. |
| to the sutures survive the wound closure process | | | | Currently, tendon repair surgery is done with |
| and keep the ability to become replacement | | | | conventional sutures including such brands as |
| tissue such as cartilage. | | | | Ethicon suture, Covidien suture, Autosuture or |
| The project involved several steps. Bioactive | | | | with an Ethicon wound closure product. |
| Surgical was the corporate sponsor who | | | | |