Project description
3D materials for treating musculoskeletal defects in immunocompromised patients
The immune system not only plays a crucial role in fighting pathogens, but it is also vital for the physiological healing of damaged tissues. Patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes present with a compromised immune system and reduced wound healing capacity. The scope of the EU-funded ImmunoBioInks project is to develop 3D-printed materials to treat musculoskeletal defects in patients with an immune system imbalance. The idea is to combine peptides, hyaluronic acid and nanomaterials into printable scaffolds of defined architecture and with carefully designed mechanical properties that can reprogram the patient’s own immune cells. The interaction of immune cells with this innovative 3D scaffold is expected to trigger the necessary healing response.
Objective
The musculoskeletal tissue is the framework of our lives. It holds, shapes and supports freedom of movement of our body and protects the crucial internal organs (brain, heart and lungs). It is responsible for our body’s immunity by providing source of stem cells (bone marrow) that readily transform to immune system cells fighting pathogens, so any damage it poses significant threat to the individual’s quality of life. The patient’s immune system does not only play crucial role in fighting various pathogens but is also vital in inducing normal healing of damaged tissues. Patients, especially with prolonged diseases, ranging from diabetes to HIV tend to have decreasing capacity for healing after injuries due to their compromised immune system. In this project we aim to develop 3D-printed materials instructing the immune systems via the immune cell-material interactions through controlled mechanical properties and biochemical cues organised in 3D manner (i.e. biofabrication using additive manufacturing techniques) for treatment of musculoskeletal defects in patients with immune-system imbalance. Chemical approaches combining synthetic self-assembling peptides and hyaluronic acid together with 2D nanomaterials will be explored for fabrication of such well-defined printable scaffolds with high shape fidelity and gradient-like architecture. In a second step, we hypothesise that reprogramming of patient’s own immune cells (ex-vivo) using the developed printed materials and a microfluidic approach can be achieved through the stimulation of patient’s immune cells interacting with the designed material surfaces to produce the exosomes and signalling molecules (cytokines). Successfully harvested biomolecules would hold potential for personalized therapies in immune-deficient patients and could be re-applied using standard practises and injectable bio-fillers.
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.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineendocrinologydiabetes
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusesHIV
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologycells technologiesstem cells
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringadditive manufacturing
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
7270 Davos Platz
Switzerland