Duke researchers have long been developing an injectable material designed to make the part of the brain directly damaged by stroke more suitable for self-repair. Treatments including clot-dissolving drugs and the actual removal of the clot can restore blood flow and preserve threatened brain tissue, but cannot replace damaged tissue. Instead of trying to replace brain tissue directly, the material encourages the body’s own repair systems to get to work. “Once brain tissue has been lost, restoring blood flow is no longer enough,” said Tatiana Segura, the Robert Plonsey Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke. Segura says the goal isn’t to reproduce the brain but to create an environment where the body’s cells can work on rebuilding the damaged brain tissue.