Additionally, analysis of implanted cell-seeded scaffolds via both anatomical magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) and positron emission tomography (PET) based on the uptake of fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F] FDG)27 (Fig. 5b) revealed that the time-activity curves of [18F] FDG uptake by cryogel-housed MSCs increased in the late phase (Fig. 5c) for both modified MSCs and s.c. injected CD33+ MOLM-13 cells, an AML model cell line used as metabolically active control cells and the metabolic activity of cryogel-housed MSCs and tumor cells followed comparable trends overtime (Supplementary Fig. 4). Here, CD33 is linked to acute myeloid leukemia.