Photocrosslinkable Polymers for Islet Encapsulation

Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus affects millions of persons in the U.S. Despite years of intenseffectiveness of current therapeutic regimens remains limited due to the difficulty of duplicating thealthy pancreas. A potential method of treating this disease is the transplantation of allogenic orLangerhans. The most significant obstacle to the development of this approach is the immune rejectioImmune-isolating islet encapsulation methodologies have been developed to solve this problem but havencapsulating materials evincing poor biocompatibility, poor permeability control, and insufficientFor this project, we will use photoactivatable synthetic polymers to prepare encapsulated islets. Sybeing used increasingly in medical science due to their ability to be tailored to incorporate specifsuch as biocompatibility, permeability, and strength. Combining the use of synthetic polymers with tphotocrosslink in situ to form biocompatible gels provides us with a unique capability well suited fpancreatic islets to provide immune protection. A successful demonstration of the ability to encapsubiocompatible synthetic polymer hydrogels will greatly increase the number and types of materials whfor this purpose, and thus accelerate the development of the bio-artificial pancreas..