Project description
Metamaterial 3D scaffolds for tissue regeneration
Regenerative medicine uses cells to repair damaged tissues. Although mechanical loading is known to influence adult cells, its impact on pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) is unclear. PSCs are powerful for tissue engineering, but their potential is limited by reliance on a cocktail of biological factors used to steer their differentiation, which do not reflect natural conditions. The ERC-funded MECCANO project will investigate how mechanical loading influences the development of PSCs in 3D cultures. It will create metamaterial scaffolds that can change shape and apply targeted mechanical stresses to either maintain PSCs or guide their differentiation into different tissue types. The project aims to establish a model for designing scaffolds to regenerate vascularised cardiac tissue, offering a new approach to tissue replacement.
Objective
Regenerative medicine aims at repairing damaged tissues in our body. To do so, stem cells are often used. My research has been focused on biofabrication innovations for tissue engineering, which aims to direct stem cell fate to steer tissue regeneration. While mechanical loading play a determinant role in the organization of adult cells and tissue development, and my past work with 3D scaffolds demonstrated the importance of mechanical cues to direct stem cell fate, very little is known about its influence on pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). PSCs are a powerful resource for tissue engineering whose application currently suffers from many limitations. One such limitation is the reliance on added biological factors to induce iPSC differentiation, which do not reflect accurately what occurs in vivo. MECCANO aims to establish a new research program that focuses on the systematic understanding of the influence of mechanical loading on tissue development from PSCs in 3D cultures. I will design mechanically active metamaterial scaffolds, which are porous 3D materials that can morph their shape in response to mechanical loading, thus providing defined dynamic stresses and deformations to cells hosted on them. I will then develop a library of mechanical metamaterial scaffolds able to maintain PSCs undifferentiated or to direct their differentiation into the three germ layers of embryological development (ecto-, meso-, endoderm lineages) through mechanical loading. This knowledge will be fed back into a mathematical model to enable the rational design and fabrication of scaffolds for the regeneration of a targeted tissue, here vascularized and conductive cardiac tissue, which has not yet been accomplished and provides a proof of concept. MECCANO will deliver a new paradigm for PSC differentiation, based on the optimization of 3D scaffolds' mechanical and structural properties. This solution holds the potential to generate more targeted, complex products for tissue replacement.
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. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG
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6200 MD Maastricht
Netherlands
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