Description du projet
Une nouvelle technique d’impression 3D pour reproduire des parties du corps humain
Les tissus et organoïdes cultivés en laboratoire promettent de révolutionner la médecine et la biologie, en remédiant à la pénurie de greffes et en introduisant des modèles in vitro précis de la physiologie humaine, en tant qu’alternative à l’expérimentation animale. La fonctionnalité des organes vivants est intimement liée à leur architecture complexe. Les progrès réalisés dans les technologies clés permettant de capturer cette relation forme-fonction in vitro sont susceptibles de nous permettre de concrétiser une véritable ingénierie tissulaire, un objectif poursuivi de longue date. Le projet VOLUME-BIO, financé par l’UE, prévoit de développer une nouvelle technique de bio-impression pour créer des tissus et des organoïdes dotés de fonctions physiologiques avec une grande précision. Des hydrogels chargés de cellules seront sculptés pour former des analogues de tissus en quelques secondes, après avoir été exposés à un champ lumineux.
Objectif
Lab-made artificial tissues and organoids promise to revolutionize medicine, tackling transplant shortage, and to innovate biological and pharmaceutical research, introducing accurate in vitro models of human physiology, as potential alternatives to animal experimentation. The functionality of living organs is intimately linked to their complex architecture, from the physicochemical properties of extracellular microenvironment, to tissue-level scale, where multiple cell populations interact in a precisely orchestrated spatial distribution. Advances in key technologies capturing this shape-function relationship in vitro can bring the long-sought goal of real tissue engineering within reach.
In VOLUME-BIO I will develop a novel multi-material volumetric bioprinting technology for the precise generation of engineered tissues and organoids exhibiting physiological functions. Inspired by optical tomography, cell-laden hydrogels are sculpted into tissue analogues within seconds, upon exposure to bio-friendly 3D visible light fields. Tuneable light patterns control the local distribution of cells and, through orthogonal photo-chemical reactions, of key factors that guide stem cell fate, namely stiffness of the extracellular matrix and morphogenetic biochemical cues. The unprecedented ability to tune independently such parameters will also permit to build 3D platforms to study how architectural complexity impacts organoid maturation. This will provide a new tool to address the so far unanswered question of how much an engineered tissue needs to mimic Nature’s template to achieve physiological functionality.
Bringing together my expertise in engineering, bioprinting, materials design and stem cell biology, I will first test the potential and versatility of this novel volumetric technology by building from anatomical patient-specific images functional and centimetre-scale vascularized bone and bone marrow organoid supporting physiological-like hematopoiesis.
Champ scientifique
- natural scienceschemical sciencesphysical chemistryphotochemistry
- natural sciencesbiological sciencescell biology
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologytissue engineering
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologycells technologiesstem cells
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiology
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitution d’accueil
3584 CX Utrecht
Pays-Bas