Veiseh, Omid2022-10-052022-10-052022-052022-04-22May 2022Doerfert, Michael David. "Development of a Sterilizable Hydrogel Platform for Biocontained Cell Therapy Delivery to the GI Tract." (2022) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113492">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113492</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/113492Bacteria are a ubiquitous and diverse class of microorganism that play a wide variety of roles in nature, industry, and human health. Advances in genetic engineering of bacteria has given rise to the rapid development of a wide variety of diagnostic and therapeutic bacteria strains that have the potential to greatly improve healthcare, particularly for diseases of the digestive system. However, the use of genetically modified organisms in medicine has raised multiple concerns of therapeutic delivery, control, and safety, which limits the translation and adoption of these technologies. There exists a gap between current biocontainment technologies and platforms made for bacteria delivery to the GI tract that ensures a safe and effective delivery of the engineered bacteria to the patient. This report details the design and development of an externally sterilizable cell therapy platform that uses a UV-absorbent, reinforced hydrogel formulation to improve biocontainment of the encapsulated bacteria.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.HydrogelAlginateBiocontainmentBacteriaThesis2022-10-05