Scientists at Columbia Engineering have developed a bioactive, injectable healing gel derived from yogurt.
By harnessing extracellular vesicles (EVs) from milk, the team developed a soft material that mimics living tissue and promotes natural regeneration. This novel gel doesn’t just deliver therapeutic molecules; the EVs help build the structure of the gel itself. In mouse models, it boosted blood vessel formation and tissue repair—without added chemicals. The research hints at a future where food-derived biotechnology plays a powerful role in healing the body.
Designing the Next Generation of Bioactive Hydrogels
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a new approach to creating bioactive, injectable hydrogels designed for tissue repair and regenerative medicine, using naturally occurring particles called extracellular vesicles (EVs).
In a study published on July 25 in Matter, Santiago Correa, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia Engineering, and his research team introduced a hydrogel system that incorporates EVs extracted from milk. These tiny particles, which are naturally released by cells, carry biological instructions such as proteins and genetic material. Because of this, they support complex cellular communication that traditional synthetic materials often fail to achieve.
Dual-Role EVs: Structure and Signal
In their design, the EVs serve two critical functions. Not only do they act as carriers for therapeutic signals, but they also help form the structure of the gel itself by crosslinking with biocompatible polymers. To address common limitations in EV availability, the team used EVs sourced from yogurt. This creative solution helped them produce the gel in greater quantities while maintaining its biological activity. The result was a soft material that both resembles living tissue and interacts with nearby cells to stimulate healing, all without the use of extra chemical agents.
“This project started as a basic question about how to build EV-based hydrogels. Yogurt EVs gave us a practical tool for that, but they turned out to be more than a model,” said Correa, who led the study with Artemis Margaronis, an NSF graduate research fellow in the Correa lab. “We found that they have inherent regenerative potential, which opens the door to new, accessible therapeutic materials.”
Global Collaboration Fuels Material Breakthroughs
Correa directs the Nanoscale Immunoengineering Lab at Columbia University, where his research focuses on drug delivery and immunoengineering. He is also a member of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center and collaborated on this project with Kam Leong, a fellow Columbia Engineering faculty member. The study was further strengthened through international collaboration with researchers from the University of Padova, including Elisa Cimetta (Department of Industrial Engineering) and graduate student Caterina Piunti. By combining Padova team’s expertise in agricultural EV sourcing with the Correa lab’s experience in nanomaterials and polymer-based hydrogels, the team demonstrated the power of cross-disciplinary, global partnerships in advancing biomaterials innovation.
By using yogurt-derived EVs, the team defined a design space for generating hydrogels that incorporate EVs as both structural and biological elements. They further validated the approach using EVs derived from mammalian cells and bacteria, demonstrating that the platform is modular and compatible with diverse vesicle sources. This could open the door to advanced applications in wound healing and regenerative medicine, where current treatments often fall short in promoting long-term tissue repair. By integrating EVs directly into the hydrogel structure, the material enables sustained delivery of their bioactive signals. Because the hydrogel is injectable, it can also be delivered locally to damaged tissue.
In Vivo Success and Immune Response
Early experiments show that yogurt EV hydrogels are biocompatible and drive potent angiogenic activity within one week in immunocompetent mice, demonstrating that agricultural EVs not only enable fundamental biomaterials research but also hold therapeutic potential as a next-generation biotechnology. In mice, the material showed no signs of adverse reaction and instead promoted the formation of new blood vessels, a key step in effective tissue regeneration. Correa’s team also observed that the hydrogel creates a unique immune environment enriched in anti-inflammatory cell types, which may contribute to the observed tissue repair processes. The team is now exploring how this immune response could help guide tissue regeneration.
“Being able to design a material that closely mimics the body’s natural environment while also speeding up the healing process opens a new world of possibilities for regenerative medicine,” said Margaronis. “Moments like these remind me why the research field in biomedical engineering is always on the cusp of something exciting.”
Reference: “Extracellular vesicles as dynamic crosslinkers for bioactive injectable hydrogels” by Artemis Margaronis, Caterina Piunti, Ryan R. Hosn, Sarah Bortel, Satya Nayagam, James S. Wang, Daniella Uvaldo, Kam Leong, Elisa Cimetta and Santiago Correa, 25 July 2025, Matter.
DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2025.102340
The study was supported by ERC Starting grant (ERC-StG) MICRONEX project (759467, PI E Cimetta). Some of this work was performed at the Simons Electron Microscopy Center at the New York Structural Biology Center, with major support from the Simons Foundation (SF349247).
Columbia University has filed a patent application for technology based on this work.
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3 Comments
Knees bones pain and crooked bone
What’s good for that
If you eat gluten and/or oats you could try cutting that out. Try to stretch as much as you can each day until it’s easier more each day.
If this is true, I’d like to ask, what “ORGANIC” Superfoods can reverse or completely heal the gut so as to rid Crohns and Ulcerative Colitis? I am in FIRM believer in the Bible, Creation and that our “natural” medicinal healing is in the ground as GOD intended when he said, “from dust we were made,” and “from every fruit and vegetable in the ground we may eat” we have plants, fruits, vegetables grown from earth’s Galileo, the same dirt that our bodies was created from. It only makes sense that we eat, and drink natural foods made to fortify our overall health both on the inside and the outside without added anything from manufactured in labs. Turmeric, Ginger, Oregano, Garlic, Lemon, Mother Organic Vinegar, Himalayan salt. I mean healing on a cellular level is mind blowing yet this is how our ancestors ate. Chicken, that ate from earths natural grains and brown eggs that we could eat without any issues with dairy. Cows that used to roam free like pigs, as well and in our own backyards. Yet today, man decided to put dolllar signs on everything that the rightful owner and Creator/Inventor of “all living things” GOD said for us eat, become fruitful, and become many having in our own subjection every living thing and food for our gut, for wellness and longevity purposes for FREE!!!! Please, do tell me how if there is a “NATURAL/ORGANIC” healing for cancer, inflammations in the body; especially Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and cure the GUT which is the body’s “black or central box” of a wealth of information to cure all internal organs the root causes of all sorts of laboratory modified gunk inserted into our bodies. The world is unhealthy and it’s because of all the lies told and sold to consumers. We want optimal health on a cellular level by GOD’s own natural resources together with what Scientists on this earth, once one global Garden of Eden can put together so that other inhabitants (you, me, our friends, families, neighbors etc) can live a very, very long time and age and die literally from “natural” causes which is imperfection and not from lies and poison sold to us. Thank you!