Project description
Reliable biofabrication of the vascularised 3D tissue
Building vascularised 3D organs remains the major challenge in biofabrication and tissue engineering. The replication of the functional vascular perfusion with the large arteries and veins and micron-scale arterioles, venules, and capillaries requires high-resolution multi-scale constructs. The combination of advanced laser bioprinting with a two-photon polymerisation technique allows the generation of a full vascular system. The connections of arteries and veins with the engineered vascular tree are crucial requirements for a reliable pulsatile flow system. The EU-funded Laser-Tissue-Perfuse project aims to generate a 3D vascular capillary tree with the perfusion in centimetre scale cardiac and skin tissue constructs using developed biofabrication methodologies for broad application across the field of regenerative medicine.
Objective
Building 3D vascularised organs remains the major unsolved challenge to be overcome in biofabrication and tissue engineering. Establishing blood vessels capable of efficient transport of gas, nutrients, and metabolites to and from cells is a prerequisite for the survival of tissue constructs, both in vitro and when transplanted in vivo. High resolution multi-scale constructs are necessary to replicate the complexity of functional vascular perfusion from large scale arteries and veins to micron scale arterioles, venules and capillaries. Using a unique combination of advanced laser bioprinting with two-photon polymerisation technique a full vascular system may be generated by exploring different scaffold-based, scaffold-free, sacrificial, and hybrid approaches for the generation of a complex vasculature with functional layers and extra-cellular matrix.
The connection of artery and vein with engineered vascular tree including capillaries have received little research attention despite the crucial requirement to reliably connect perfusion inlets and outlets to a pulsatile flow system. This is essential not only to perfuse tissue, but to stimulate and control maturation of engineered tissue in reaching the condition required to function with realistic biophysical characteristics of thick tissue outside of a closed incubation chamber. Computer-controlled generation of a 3D vascular capillary tree and achieving its perfusion in centimetre scale cardiac and skin tissue constructs using the developed biofabrication methodologies will represent a seminal breakthrough in organ regeneration with widespread long-term impacts across the field of regenerative medicine.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
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Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
30167 Hannover
Germany