This research was supported by the NSF MRSEC Program (award DMR-0819762 ).

1. Author: D. Irvine (MIT) Researchersof the MIT MRSEC have developed a new process for attaching drug-loaded nanoparticles onto the surfaces of living stem cells. These biodegradable particles, 100-200 nm in diameter, slowly release drug compounds that stimulate stem cells and promote their survival and proliferation. When stem cells decorated with these particles are used to mimic a bone marrow transplant (BMT) in a murine model, the particle-carrying cells reconstitute the immune system of treated animals ~5-fold faster than traditional BMTs. Although still in the early stages of development, this work opens up the exciting possibility of dramatically shortening the time that a patient receiving a BMT is immunosuppressed following the procedure. Initiative-I Highlight: Stem cells with drug-loaded nanoparticles attached promote rapid recovery following bone marrow transplants Image. Modifying stem cells with drug-loaded nanoparticles to enhance bone marrow transplants. (Left) Schematic view of biodegradable lipid particles chemically linked to the surface of stem cells. Drugs released from the particle are captured by the stem cell and provide survival and reconstitution signals. (Right) Whole-animal imaging of mice receiving traditional bone marrow transplant of unmodified stem cells (left images) or stem cells decorated with drug-loaded nanoparticles (right images). “Heat map” colors indicate the number of cells that have replenished in the animals as a function of time. This research was supported by the NSF MRSEC Program (award DMR-0819762).