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Updated: Oct 7, 2025
Scaffold-supported Transplantation of Islets in the Epididymal Fat Pad of Diabetic Mice
Published on: July 23, 2017
Biomaterial Applications in Islet Encapsulation and Transplantation
Julia S Caserto1, Daniel T Bowers1, Kaavian Shariati1
1Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States.
The worldwide prevalence of type 1 diabetes motivates the development of different treatment options for the disease. Current clinical treatments typically require patient involvement, often resulting in stress or inconvenience to the patient due to frequent blood glucose measurements and insulin injections or infusions. Islet transplantation, a potentially curative treatment, is limited by donor availability and the need for long-term administration of immunosuppressants. Cell encapsulation may prevent graft rejection without immunosuppression, however, foreign body responses, mass transfer limitations, scalability, and safety are all significant challenges. This Spotlight paper summarizes our recent efforts to address these challenges including developing biomaterials to mitigate foreign body responses and fibrosis, engineering scalable and retrievable encapsulation devices, as well as designing oxygen supplementation and vascularization strategies.
The worldwide prevalence of type 1 diabetes motivates the development of different treatment options for the disease. Current clinical treatments typically require patient involvement, often resulting in stress or inconvenience to the patient due to frequent blood glucose measurements and insulin injections or infusions. Islet transplantation, a potentially curative treatment, is limited by donor availability and the need for long-term administration of immunosuppressants. Cell encapsulation may prevent graft rejection without immunosuppression, however, foreign body responses, mass transfer limitations, scalability, and safety are all significant challenges. This Spotlight paper summarizes our recent efforts to address these challenges including developing biomaterials to mitigate foreign body responses and fibrosis, engineering scalable and retrievable encapsulation devices, as well as designing oxygen supplementation and vascularization strategies.
