Living therapeutics are gaining attention as innovative therapeutic modality and open the possibility to use programmed organisms (bacteria, yeasts) to deliver new biopharmaceuticals. A demand for appropriate carrier system to safely haul therapeutic organisms to the delivery site is arising. Such therapeutic implants could facilitate the on-site production and delivery of drugs, and act as a selective barrier that confines the living organisms to a specific site in the body.

To attain these functionalities, and with the purpose of delivering living therapeutics to the gut, we produce hybrid core-shell hydrogels where the core contains the living organisms and the shell controls growth and prevents their escape. These are produced by microfluidic techniques using polymer precursor solutions where bacteria or yeast cells are dispersed. Following microdroplet generation, capsules are polymerized and transferred to culture medium, where the contained bacteria proliferate inside the core. The porous structure of the shell facilitates the diffusion of proteins/ drug molecules produced inside the core.

This work is performed within the Leibniz Science Campus Living Therapeutic Materials at Saarland University Campus.