A biomaterial designed to travel through the bloodstream could offer a less invasive way to calm inflammation and help injured tissue repair itself. In animal studies, the injectable material improved tissue damage caused by heart attacks in both rodents and large animals. Early proof of concept experiments also suggested that the same approach may one day be useful for other inflammation driven conditions, including traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

"This biomaterial allows for treating damaged tissue from the inside out," said Karen Christman, a professor of bioengineering at the University of California San Diego, and the lead researcher on the team that developed the material. "It's a new approach to regenerative engineering."

The findings were reported in Nature Biomedical Engineering in 2022 by a team of bioengineers and physicians.…