I-Corps: A conductive scaffold with a tunable mechanical and biochemical environment for spinal cord injury repair

I-Corps：具有可调机械和生化环境的导电支架，用于脊髓损伤修复

• 批准号: 2337356
• 负责人: Peter Galie
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Rowan University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2337356&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; conductive; scaffold; tunable; mechanical

The broader impacts and commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a therapeutic technology to repair spinal cord injury. Currently, there is no treatment capable of fully restoring function following spinal cord injury. Bioengineered scaffolds to repair the spinal cord are currently being evaluated in human patients in ongoing clinical trials. However, achieving sufficient neural tissue growth to facilitate functional recovery has yet to be achieved in scaffolds implanted in small animal models. The proposed technology is designed to address the challenges of current scaffold designs by using a 3D-printed (prefabricated) scaffold surgically delivered to the site of the injury that may restore function in patients of spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury is a devastating problem that affects thousands of patients each year in the United States with annual healthcare costs of nearly $10 billion per year. The proposed scaffold technology may advance both scientific and technological understanding related to spinal cord injury as well as improve spinal injury outcomes. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a conductive bioink that enables the fabrication of scaffolds for repairing spinal cord injury. Current scaffolds are limited in their ability to tune material properties to increase infiltration and outgrowth of host axons. The proposed scaffold is 3D-printed using digital light processing and features channels oriented in the rostral-caudal direction lined with neurogenic peptides, providing orthogonal control over topological features and cell-matrix interactions to foster axon infiltration and outgrowth to overcome previous limitations. In addition, the bioink material exhibits conductive properties that may enhance the efficacy of exercise-based rehabilitation to potentially restore function in patients. Preliminary studies in a rat model of spinal cord injury demonstrate substantial infiltration of host axons from these scaffolds. The overall goal for the proposed scaffolds is to replace the regenerative strategies currently under evaluation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响和商业潜力是开发一种修复脊髓损伤的治疗技术。 当前，尚无治疗能够在脊髓损伤后完全恢复功能。 在正在进行的临床试验中，目前正在人类患者中评估生物工程的脚手架以修复脊髓。 但是，在小动物模型中植入的脚手架中尚未实现足够的神经组织生长以促进功能恢复。 该提出的技术旨在通过使用3D打印（预制的）脚手架的3D（预制）脚手架来应对当前脚手架设计的挑战，该脚手架通过手术递送到损伤部位，该部位可能会恢复脊髓损伤患者的功能。 脊髓损伤是一个破坏性的问题，每年每年影响数千名患者，每年的医疗费用接近100亿美元。 拟议的脚手架技术可能会提高与脊髓损伤相关的科学和技术理解，并改善脊髓损伤结果。这个I-Corps项目基于导电生物互联的开发，该生物互联可以制造脚手架来修复脊髓损伤。 当前的脚手架能够调整材料特性以增加宿主轴突的浸润和生长的能力有限。所提出的脚手架是使用数字光处理的3D打印的，并具有衬有神经源性肽的延髓审计方向定向的通道，从而提供了对拓扑特征和细胞 - 矩阵相互作用的正交控制，以促进轴突浸润和产物，从而超过先前的限制。 此外，生物学材料具有导电性能，可以增强基于运动的康复对患者恢复功能的疗效。 在大鼠脊髓损伤模型中的初步研究表明，这些脚手架的宿主轴突大量浸润。 拟议的脚手架的总体目标是取代目前正在评估的重生策略。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准通过评估来支持的。