NSF/FDA Scholar In Residence: 3D Printed Biomaterials for MSC Attachment and Targeted Differentiation

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PI: Fisher, John P.Proposal: 1445700Title: NSF/FDA Scholar In Residence: 3D Printed Biomaterials for MSC Attachment and Targeted DifferentiationSignificanceThe clinical promise of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine will likely depend upon a viable strategy for the isolation, culture, and delivery of stem cells. Therefore, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must be on the forefront of stem cell biology. Although a variety of stem cell populations exist, autogenic and allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells are among the most widely investigated population owing to their ability to be readily differentiated into any of the mesodermal tissues, including bone, cartilage, fat, tendon, and ligament. Currently an enriched population of MSCs is obtained by differential centrifugation and/or plastic adherence. While both of these methods yield an enriched MSC population, neither offers a means to isolate and subsequently culture MSCs in one step. Most critically, these methods are only useful for in vitro culture of MSCs. The PI proposes the development of a modified biomaterial that can capture, culture, and differentiate an enriched MSC population, resulting in phenotypically stable chondrocytes. The proposed work will allow the FDA to remain on the forefront of stem cell technologies, both in the techniques utilized in the development of biomaterials for regenerative medicine and the interaction of stem cells with novel biomaterials. Finally, this work will promote FDA?s regulatory role by developing the in-house expertise to evaluate stem cell based technologies.Technical DescriptionMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), a multipotent stem cell line, have tremendous therapeutic potential, as they are capable of differentiating into various lineages such as bone, adipose, and cartilage. However, MSCs represent only a fraction of the cells that are found in the bone marrow and adipose tissue and lack unique identifying markers, which increases the difficulty of isolation. The goal of this proposed work is to develop a tissue engineering strategy to characterize MSC isolation based on adhesion, and to mimic the specific adhesive interactions on the surface of a biodegradable biomaterial to capture, culture, and differentiate MSCs for engineered cartilage tissue applications. To this end, the PI proposes to develop a device that will allow for in vivo recruitment and enrichment of MSCs, as well as provide a simple method for in vitro capture of MSCs.