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CORDIS

4D Printing of Human Vascularized Cardiac Patches and Hearts for Regenerative Medicine

Descrizione del progetto

Ricucire un cuore spezzato

Il trapianto di cuore è l’unica opzione per i pazienti affetti da insufficienza cardiaca allo stadio finale. Tuttavia, la scarsità di organi adatti richiede approcci alternativi che mirano a rigenerare il cuore malato. I ricercatori del progetto 4DPrintedHeart, finanziato dall’UE, hanno prodotto in precedenza cerotti cardiaci stampati in 3D che contengono vasi sanguigni, ma la loro funzione rimane prematura poiché non dispongono della capacità di pompare il sangue. Ora l’obiettivo è fare progredire questo approccio tramite metodi innovativi di stampa e delineare i meccanismi alla base della maturazione di tessuti e cuori stampati. Si prevede che i risultati apportino progressi nel campo dell’ingegneria tessutale e rivoluzionino il trapianto cardiaco.

Obiettivo

Heart diseases are a major cause of death in the Western world. No sustainable regenerative therapy is currently available, and cardiac transplantation is the only treatment. However, the scarcity of matching heart donors raises the need to develop new regenerative medicine approaches. Recently, our group has shown the use of patient-specific cells and personalized hydrogels to 3D print vascularized cardiac patches. Moreover, we have developed printing technologies which allowed to print small-scale, cellularized human hearts with the major blood vessels. Despite these and other advances in the field, the premature hearts are very basic, and their ability to pump blood and function in vivo is still considered futuristic, requiring several major breakthroughs. In this proposal, I plan to go far beyond the current state-of-the-art and overcome some of the remaining challenges in the field. We will develop novel 4D printing approaches, allowing to print human cardiac patches and whole functional hearts, including ventricles, atria, pacemakers, conduction system and extensive vasculature, in high resolution. We will decipher the mechanisms underlying the maturation of the printed tissues and hearts, which are essential for the synchronous contraction and heart pumping. Functionality of the printed structures will be compared to that of native cardiac tissues and whole natural hearts by examining their reaction to chronotropic and cardiotoxic drugs, proving their additional potential to serve as reliable, predictive drug testing platforms. The printed tissues and hearts will be then heterotopically transplanted, and their anastomosis with the host blood vessels, contraction and blood pumping capabilities in vivo will be tested. Finally, we will demonstrate the ability of the printed, vascularized cardiac patches to improve heart function. Successful completion of this ambitious project will provide a sustainable regenerative therapy for a myriad of devastating maladies.

Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)

Parole chiave

Programma(i)

Argomento(i)

Meccanismo di finanziamento

ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

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Invito a presentare proposte

(si apre in una nuova finestra) ERC-2020-COG

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Istituzione ospitante

TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
Contributo netto dell'UE
€ 2 000 000,00
Costo totale
€ 2 000 000,00

Beneficiari (1)