Researchers at Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) have developed the world’s first technology that enables confirmation of tissue regeneration occurring in vivo without explanting the construct, drawing attention from the academic community.

Professor Kil-Seon Kang’s research team (Department of Polymer -Nano Science &Technology) announced that they have developed a method to conveniently confirm tissue regeneration using fluorescence imaging, which allows observation of in vivo phenomena without explanting cell-culture scaffolds implanted in experimental animals.

The results of this research, conducted through international collaboration with the group of Professor Hak-Soo Choi, an alumnus of JBNU who is now an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and the group of Professor Sang-Jin Lee at Wake Forest School of Medicine, were recently published online in Scientific Reports, a sister journal of Nature, and have created a strong response in the global academic community.

Until now, to assess the extent of tissue formation in regenerative medicine using stem cells, researchers have had to explant the cell-seeded biomaterial scaffolds implanted in experimental animals at predetermined time points and observe them using staining methods that specifically react with the newly formed tissue.

This traditional method requires an enormous number of sacrificed experimental animals, involves complex staining procedures, and cannot measure the degree of cell differentiation and tissue formation in real time, limiting more precise analysis.

However, Professor Kang’s team combined the near-infrared fluorescence imaging method developed by Professor Hak-Soo Choi’s group at Harvard Medical School with regenerative medicine, proposing a method to efficiently and in real time assess the biodegradation of materials implanted in experimental animals without sacrificing the animals.

Through this research, Professor Kang’s team is expected to make a major contribution to the regenerative medicine field of bio-organ regeneration using cells including stem cells and biomaterial scaffolds — not only structural musculoskeletal organ regeneration such as bone, cartilage, and intervertebral discs, but also functional organ regeneration such as central nervous system regeneration and visual and olfactory nerve regeneration.

Professor Kil-Seon Kang said, “These results will greatly contribute to research in tissue regeneration because they allow simple visualization of the differentiation patterns of cells cultured in experimental groups without explantation,” and added, “Furthermore, this research is expected to provide a breakthrough for bio-organ regeneration research by enabling real-time tracking of the fate of differentiating stem cells and direct visual confirmation of tissue regeneration.”