Described as a major advance in regenerative medicine, it’s the first injectable wound-repair material that can withstand the constant movement of heart and vocal cord tissues as they heal, according to the team of researchers.

The hydrogel is a type of biomaterial that provides room for cells to live and grow, said the press release on the McGill University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering website. The biomaterial forms a stable, porous structure inside the body, allowing live cells to grow or pass through to repair the injured organs.

The new injectable hydrogel developed by a multidisciplinary team of scientists at Montréal’s McGill University reportedly is strong enough to repair the heart, muscles, and vocal cords.

This material would also serve to create lungs with which to test drugs against Covid-19.

Specialists assured that no injectable hydrogel possessed both high porosity and toughness at the same time. To solve this issue, we introduced a pore-forming polymer to our formula.

The work highlights the synergy of materials science, mechanical engineering, and bioengineering in creating novel biomaterials with unprecedented performance, scientists said.

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