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Nichoid: nanoengineered three-dimensional substrate for stem cell expansion

Objective

"Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) raise a great interest for regenerative medicine for many clinical applications such as orthopaedic, plastic and reconstructive surgery, within autoimmune or degenerative disease treatment and as immune-suppressive agents in organ transplantation. In stem cell therapy, cells are injected in the patient after an extensive in vitro manipulation aimed at obtaining a sufficient cell number able to guarantee the therapeutic effect. Currently, stem cell ""manufacturing"" implies the use of “feeder” cells and additives from animal sources, hampering the clinical use mainly for safety reasons. In the context of an ERC Consolidator grant (ERC-CoG) that I currently lead, I introduced a novel ground-breaking concept for an easy to use, repeatable, cost-effective, and safe substrate for stem cell expansion, called the “nichoid” substrate, capable of avoiding feeder cells and dangerous additives. The substrate is polymerized with a laser in a biocompatible resin using a frontier nano-fabrication technology called “two-photon laser polymerization” (2PP). To explore the possibility of an economic exploitation of this invention covered by an Italian Patent submitted in September 2015 and already extended as PCT, the goal of this PoC is to perform a technical and commercial feasibility to move the method developed in the PI’s laboratory during the ERC grant to the market. In particular, I plan to speed up the maturity level of the technology further developing the production process of individual nichoids (fabrication up-scaling by at least a factor of 10, allowing to cover a culture surface of 5 squared cm in five hours), setting of an actionable IPR strategy (including a market assessment), identification of the suitable exploitation strategy for valorising the patent/know how (licensing). The nichoid could drastically reduce down to few years the time to market of stem cell products that is currently 20 years."

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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.

ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2016-PoC

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Host institution

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 110 000,00
Address
PIAZZA LEONARDO DA VINCI 32
20133 Milano
Italy

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Region
Nord-Ovest Lombardia Milano
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 110 000,00

Beneficiaries (2)

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