Living bandage accelerates healing across multiple wound types

Animal-model studies show sustained healing-protein delivery from engineered cells

HOUSTON, May 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Chronic wounds remain a significant clinical challenge, in part because it is difficult to deliver sustained, localized immune signals that coordinate tissue repair. While cytokines play a central role in regulating inflammation and healing, conventional delivery approaches are often limited by rapid degradation and poor retention at the wound site.

Researchers at Rice University with the support of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad have developed a cytokine factory patch designed to address this challenge by continuously producing and delivering therapeutic cytokines directly within the wound environment. The approach is described in a new peer-reviewed study, entitled "Cytokine factory patch for localized immunomodulation to accelerate healing in rodent and porcine excisional wound models," published in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The cytokine factory patch is a cell-based delivery platform that uses encapsulated, engineered cells as on-site "factories" to secrete cytokines, signaling proteins that regulate immune activity and tissue regeneration, over extended periods of time. By localizing cytokine production at the wound site, the system is designed to maintain therapeutic levels of these molecules where they are needed most.

The device, developed in the laboratory of Omid Veiseh, encapsulates ARPE-19 cells engineered to secrete specific cytokines, including IL-10, IL-12 and TGF-β. These cells are housed within a biocompatible matrix that allows nutrients and therapeutic proteins to pass through while shielding the cells from the host immune system.

In preclinical studies, delivery of cytokines using the patch supported accelerated wound healing in both murine and porcine excisional wound models, demonstrating the potential of sustained, localized immunomodulation to enhance natural repair processes.

"The findings show how continuous, localized cytokine delivery can support key biological pathways involved in tissue repair," said Veiseh, professor of bioengineering at Rice and faculty director of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad. "By maintaining a consistent presence of these signaling molecules at the wound site, we can more effectively engage the body's natural healing response."

At the cellular level, the engineered cells demonstrated activation of key wound-healing pathways, which was validated through RNA sequencing. Transcriptomic analysis revealed coordinated upregulation of genes associated with tissue regeneration and immune modulation, providing a mechanistic basis for the functional improvements observed.

The platform is designed to be modular, allowing the engineered cells to be adapted to produce different combinations of cytokines, growth factors or other therapeutic proteins depending on the clinical application. In addition, the system incorporates an optimized hydrogel matrix that supports integration with the wound environment and may be further adapted to work alongside bioelectronic components.

"The ability to tune both the type and timing of cytokine delivery opens the door to more precise control over the healing process," said Christian Schreib, assistant research professor in the bioengineering department at Rice and co-author of the paper. "Future work will focus on expanding the flexibility of the platform, including approaches such as optogenetic control to regulate cytokine secretion in real time."

Beyond wound healing, the cytokine factory approach represents a broader framework for localized, cell-based delivery of therapeutic proteins across a range of diseases where sustained, site-specific signaling is critical.

The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (D20AC00002). The content in this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of funding entities.

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

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Peer-reviewed paper:

Cytokine factory patch for localized immunomodulation to accelerate healing in rodent and porcine excisional wound models | Nature Biomedical Engineering | DOI:
10.1038/s41551-026-01687-7

Authors: Christian C. Schreib, Elizabeth L. Kelley, Gillian Audia, Raghav Garg, Scott Johnson, Samantha Fleury, Marissa N. Behun, Dilrasbonu Vohidova, Mangesh Kulkarni, Grace May, Bryan N. Brown, Stephen F. Badylak, Tzahi Cohen-Karni and Omid Veiseh

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-026-01687-7

Access associated media files:

https://rice.photoshelter.com/galleries/C0000ozmLFGQBqew/G0000N0aRX2cptw0/260520_Nature-BME-Pub

(Photos by Jared Jones/Rice University)

About Rice:

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering and computing, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Internationally, the university maintains the Rice Global Paris Center, a hub for innovative collaboration, research and inspired teaching located in the heart of Paris. With 4,776 undergraduates and 4,104 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 7 for best-run colleges by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by the Wall Street Journal and is included on Forbes' exclusive list of "New Ivies."

About the Rice Biotech Launch Pad:  

The Rice Biotech Launch Pad is a Houston-based accelerator focused on expediting the translation of Rice University's health and medical technology discoveries into cures. This initiative is designed to help advance internally discovered platform technologies from concept to clinical studies and commercialization. The Rice Biotech Launch Pad will identify and support highly differentiated projects while driving the expansion of Houston as a world-class medical innovation ecosystem. The accelerator will bring together local researchers with a network of industry executives. For more information, please visit https://biotechlaunchpad.rice.edu/.

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SOURCE Rice University