Within a newborn’s umbilical cord lie potentially life-saving stem cells that can be used to fight diseases like lymphoma and leukemia. That is why many new parents elect to store (“bank”) their infant’s stem cell-rich umbilical cord blood. But in the 6–15% of pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes, parents lack this option because the condition damages the stem cells and renders them useless.
At the heart of this new approach are specially engineered nanoparticles. At just 150 nanometers in diameter—about a quarter of the size of a red blood cell—each spherical nanoparticle is able to store medicine and deliver it just to the stem cells themselves by attaching directly onto the stem cells’ surface. Due to their special formulation or “tuning,” the particles release the medicine slowly, making it highly effective even at very low doses.
Donny Hanjaya-Putra, an assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering in the bioengineering graduate program at Notre Dame who directs the lab where the study was conducted, described the process using an analogy. “Each stem cell is like a soldier. It is smart and effective; it knows where to go and what to do. But the ‘soldiers’ we are working with are injured and weak. By providing them with this nanoparticle ‘backpack,’ we are giving them what they need to work effectively again.”
The main test for the new “backpack”-equipped stem cells was whether or not they could form new tissues. Hanjaya-Putra and his team tested damaged cells without “backpacks” and observed that they moved slowly and formed imperfect tissues. But when Hanjaya-Putra and his team applied “backpacks,” previously damaged stem cells began forming new blood vessels, both when inserted in synthetic polymers and when implanted under the skin of lab mice, two environments meant to simulate the conditions of the human body.
Although it may be years before this new technique reaches actual health care settings, Hanjaya-Putra explained that it has the clearest path of any method developed so far. “Methods that involve injecting the medicine directly into the bloodstream come with many unwanted risks and side effects,” Hanjaya-Putra said. In addition, new methods like gene editing face a long journey to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. But Hanjaya-Putra’s technique used only methods and materials already approved for clinical settings by the FDA.
Hanjaya-Putra attributed the study’s success to a highly interdisciplinary group of researchers. “This was a collaboration between chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, biology and medicine—and I always find that the best science happens at the intersection of several different fields.”
The study’s lead author was former Notre Dame postdoctoral student Loan Bui, now a faculty member at the University of Dayton in Ohio; stem cell biologist Laura S. Haneline and former postdoctoral fellow Shanique Edwards from the Indiana University School of Medicine; Notre Dame Bioengineering doctoral students Eva Hall and Laura Alderfer; Notre Dame undergraduates Pietro Sainaghi, Kellen Round and 2021 valedictorian Madeline Owen; Prakash Nallathamby, research assistant professor, aerospace and mechanical engineering; and Siyuan Zhang from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
The researchers hope their approach will be used to restore cells damaged by other types of pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia. “Instead of discarding the stem cells,” Hanjaya-Putra said, “in the future we hope clinicians will be able to rejuvenate them and use them to regenerate the body. For example, a baby born prematurely due to preeclampsia may have to stay in the NICU with an imperfectly formed lung. We hope our technology can improve this child’s developmental outcomes.”
News
Nanoparticle blueprints reveal path to smarter medicines
Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are the delivery vehicles of modern medicine, carrying cancer drugs, gene therapies and vaccines into cells. Until recently, many scientists assumed that all LNPs followed more or less the same blueprint, [...]
How nanomedicine and AI are teaming up to tackle neurodegenerative diseases
When I first realized the scale of the challenge posed by neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), I felt simultaneously humbled and motivated. These disorders are not caused [...]
Self-Organizing Light Could Transform Computing and Communications
USC engineers have demonstrated a new kind of optical device that lets light organize its own route using the principles of thermodynamics. Instead of relying on switches or digital control, the light finds its own [...]
Groundbreaking New Way of Measuring Blood Pressure Could Save Thousands of Lives
A new method that improves the accuracy of interpreting blood pressure measurements taken at the ankle could be vital for individuals who are unable to have their blood pressure measured on the arm. A newly developed [...]
Scientist tackles key roadblock for AI in drug discovery
The drug development pipeline is a costly and lengthy process. Identifying high-quality "hit" compounds—those with high potency, selectivity, and favorable metabolic properties—at the earliest stages is important for reducing cost and accelerating the path [...]
Nanoplastics with environmental coatings can sneak past the skin’s defenses
Plastic is ubiquitous in the modern world, and it's notorious for taking a long time to completely break down in the environment - if it ever does. But even without breaking down completely, plastic [...]
Chernobyl scientists discover black fungus feeding on deadly radiation
It looks pretty sinister, but it might actually be incredibly helpful When reactor number four in Chernobyl exploded, it triggered the worst nuclear disaster in history, one which the surrounding area still has not [...]
Long COVID Is Taking A Silent Toll On Mental Health, Here’s What Experts Say
Months after recovering from COVID-19, many people continue to feel unwell. They speak of exhaustion that doesn’t fade, difficulty breathing, or an unsettling mental haze. What’s becoming increasingly clear is that recovery from the [...]
Study Delivers Cancer Drugs Directly to the Tumor Nucleus
A new peptide-based nanotube treatment sneaks chemo into drug-resistant cancer cells, providing a unique workaround to one of oncology’s toughest hurdles. CiQUS researchers have developed a novel molecular strategy that allows a chemotherapy drug to [...]
Scientists Begin $14.2 Million Project To Decode the Body’s “Hidden Sixth Sense”
An NIH-supported initiative seeks to unravel how the nervous system tracks and regulates the body’s internal organs. How does your brain recognize when it’s time to take a breath, when your blood pressure has [...]
Scientists Discover a New Form of Ice That Shouldn’t Exist
Researchers at the European XFEL and DESY are investigating unusual forms of ice that can exist at room temperature when subjected to extreme pressure. Ice comes in many forms, even when made of nothing but water [...]
Nobel-winning, tiny ‘sponge crystals’ with an astonishing amount of inner space
The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi on Oct. 8, 2025, for the development of metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, which are tunable crystal structures with extremely [...]
Harnessing Green-Synthesized Nanoparticles for Water Purification
A new review reveals how plant- and microbe-derived nanoparticles can power next-gen water disinfection, delivering cleaner, safer water without the environmental cost of traditional treatments. A recent review published in Nanomaterials highlights the potential of green-synthesized nanomaterials (GSNMs) in [...]
Brainstem damage found to be behind long-lasting effects of severe Covid-19
Damage to the brainstem - the brain's 'control center' - is behind long-lasting physical and psychiatric effects of severe Covid-19 infection, a study suggests. Using ultra-high-resolution scanners that can see the living brain in [...]
CT scan changes over one year predict outcomes in fibrotic lung disease
Researchers at National Jewish Health have shown that subtle increases in lung scarring, detected by an artificial intelligence-based tool on CT scans taken one year apart, are associated with disease progression and survival in [...]
AI Spots Hidden Signs of Disease Before Symptoms Appear
Researchers suggest that examining the inner workings of cells more closely could help physicians detect diseases earlier and more accurately match patients with effective therapies. Researchers at McGill University have created an artificial intelligence tool capable of uncovering [...]
