Descrizione del progetto
Una nuova vascolarizzazione bioingegnerizzata per trapianti «plug and play»
I letti capillari costituiscono una parte fondamentale del sistema circolatorio che trasporta ossigeno e sostanze nutritive a cellule e tessuti, portando via le scorie nocive. Senza di essi, il sangue circolerebbe nel corpo come un treno merci che non si ferma mai alle stazioni per caricare e scaricare. Sono stati fatti molti progressi nella «creazione» di organi e tessuti destinati ai trapianti, ma indurre la vascolarizzazione essenziale in modo tale da rendere questi organi e tessuti funzionanti dopo un trapianto resta tuttora una sfida aperta. Il progetto CapBed, finanziato dall’UE, realizzerà letti capillari bioingegnerizzati in grado di stimolare la vascolarizzazione negli organi creati in laboratorio, consentendo a tali organi di collegarsi al flusso di sangue del paziente subito dopo il trapianto, in modo tale che possano iniziare a funzionare correttamente.
Obiettivo
The demand for donated organs vastly outnumbers the supply, leading each year to the death of thousands of people and the suffering of millions more. Engineered tissues and organs following Tissue Engineering approaches are a possible solution to this problem. However, a prevascularization solution to irrigate complex engineered tissues and assure their survival after transplantation is currently elusive. In the human body, complex organs and tissues irrigation is achieved by a network of blood vessels termed capillary bed which suggests such a structure is needed in engineered tissues. Previous approaches to engineer capillary beds reached different levels of success but none yielded a fully functional one due to the inability in simultaneously addressing key elements such as correct angiogenic cell populations, a suitable matrix and dynamic conditions that mimic blood flow.
CapBed aims at proposing a new technology to fabricate in vitro capillary beds that include a vascular axis that can be anastomosed with a patient circulation. Such capillary beds could be used as prime tools to prevascularize in vitro engineered tissues and provide fast perfusion of those after transplantation to a patient. Cutting edge techniques will be for the first time integrated in a disruptive approach to address the requirements listed above. Angiogenic cell sheets of human Adipose-derived Stromal Vascular fraction cells will provide the cell populations that integrate the capillaries and manage its intricate formation, as well as the collagen required to build the matrix that will hold the capillary beds. Innovative fabrication technologies such as 3D printing and laser photoablation will be used for the fabrication of the micropatterned matrix that will allow fluid flow through microfluidics. The resulting functional capillary beds can be used with virtually every tissue engineering strategy rendering the proposed strategy with massive economical, scientific and medical potential
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigation
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologytissue engineering
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringadditive manufacturing
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinetransplantation
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-STG - Starting GrantIstituzione ospitante
4704 553 Braga
Portogallo