Project description DEENESFRITPL Novel bioengineered vascularisation for 'plug and play' transplants The capillary beds are a fundamental part of the circulatory system that transports oxygen and nutrients to cells and tissues and carries away harmful waste. Without them, the blood would circle around the body like a cargo train that never stops at the stations for pickup and delivery. Much progress has been made on 'building' tissues and organs for transplant, but inducing essential vascularisation in a way that such tissues and organs are viable after transplantation, is still challenging. The EU-funded CapBed project will develop bioengineered capillary beds able to induce vascularisation in lab-made organs, allowing them to be connected to the patient's blood supply upon transplantation, ensuring the new organs get off to a healthy start. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective 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 Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidicsengineering and technologycivil engineeringwater engineeringirrigationmedical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologytissue engineeringengineering and technologymechanical engineeringmanufacturing engineeringadditive manufacturingmedical and health sciencesclinical medicinetransplantation Keywords Capillary bed angiogenesis 3D printing laser photoablation cell sheet engineering adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction microfluidics Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2018-STG - ERC Starting Grant Call for proposal ERC-2018-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-STG - Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO Net EU contribution € 1 499 940,00 Address LARGO DO PACO 4704 553 Braga Portugal See on map Region Continente Norte Cávado Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 499 940,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO Portugal Net EU contribution € 1 499 940,00 Address LARGO DO PACO 4704 553 Braga See on map Region Continente Norte Cávado Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 499 940,00
