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Mimicking the dynamic and complex ECM: designing bioprinted immune-instructive hydrogels

Project description

Bioprinting: the future of transplantation

Tissue bioprinting is a novel technology that uses biomaterials to produce constructs for potential clinical use. This approach is expected in the future to address the shortage of donor tissues and organs needed to treat many chronic diseases. INKspired is an EU-funded initiative that will advance bioprinting by developing bioinks based on the extracellular matrix that also combine the capacity to modulate the immune response. This will help recreate the native complexity of tissues more accurately and improve the mechanical and biological properties of printed constructs. Importantly, it will bring bioprinting one step closer to generating implantable living tissues.

Objective

Tissue and organ shortage is the limiting factor in treating many patients with chronic organ failure and has led to over 18 patients deaths every day just in Europe. Recreating the 3D complexity of tissues and organs is moving step-by-step from sci-fi to reality thanks to the tremendous progress in 3D printing techniques. Native tissues and organs are composed of different cells, proteins, and signaling molecules that are arranged in a hierarchical complex microenvironment, called extracellular matrix (ECM). Bioprinting has emerged as a novel fabrication technique that assembles cells-laden biomaterials in a spatially controlled manner, promising customized 3D tissue-engineered constructs for potential clinical use. One of the main challenges to clinical success is to avoid immune system rejection. The overall aim of the INKspired project is to generate novel ECM-inspired bioinks, which could further recapitulate the dynamicity and complex structure of native tissue and even modulate the immune response. By double network strategy, I will combine two dynamic hydrogel networks to control the overall mechanical and biological properties of printed constructs. The outcomes of INKspired aim to contribute to tissue bioprinting and hence the global chronic lack of tissues.
My unique research background, which includes tissue engineering, material science and engineering, will allow me to carry out this multidisciplinary project. I will collaborate with the supervisors, who have a vast experience in biofabrication and biomaterials, and work at the international and interdisciplinary setting (MERLN, Maastricht University). Marie Curie fellowship will enhance the potential of my future career perspectives by providing an interdisciplinary and translational education program, empowering me to take leading positions in the field of tissue engineering worldwide.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Net EU contribution
€ 175 572,48
Address
MINDERBROEDERSBERG 4
6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands

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Region
Zuid-Nederland Limburg (NL) Zuid-Limburg
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 175 572,48
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