IRES Track I: US-Canada Collaborative Research on Biomaterials for stem cell culture and neural differentiation

该奖项支持来自德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（UTEP）和加拿大维多利亚大学（UVic）的美国本科生在生物工程和神经科学领域的跨学科研究方面的国际研究经验。该项目主要招收UTEP的西班牙裔工程专业学生，UTEP是一所以西班牙裔为主的四年制公立大学。维多利亚大学的学生互访将得到加拿大政府的资助。UTEP的学生将在前沿研究领域获得专业发展和教育机会。具体来说，该项目将干细胞生物学与先进的三维生物材料技术相结合，从干细胞中制造组织。产生患者特异性的“人造”组织使研究人员能够控制干细胞的生长和分化速度。这项研究在为疾病建模和未来药物开发铺平道路方面具有重要意义。通过合作，跨学科团队的目标是通过利用先进的材料和工艺，确定人类诱导多能干细胞（iPSCs）分化为神经表型的独特方法。具体来说，UTEP团队在人类诱导多能干细胞（iPSC）培养和3D生物打印方面拥有专业知识，而UVic团队在基于纤维蛋白的支架上培养人类iPSC的神经元分化方面拥有专业知识。研究重点是应用基于微流体的生物3D打印技术，将人类多能干细胞与生物材料支架一起共打印，生成高保真的所需结构的生物复合材料。使用先进的生物材料和支架生物打印iPSCs有望开发3D组织，理想情况下包括包裹细胞并促进其增殖和靶向分化。该项目能够解决该领域的关键问题：1)先进材料及其独特设计如何促进干细胞培养并促进其分化？2)如何将生物3D打印作为一种先进的制造技术应用于模拟复杂的环境来调节干细胞的生长和分化？3)与对照组相比，微结构支架上培养的细胞分化后代是否表现出更强的功能和表型？因此，我们的科学目标是更好地了解生长因子和微环境生态位以及生物材料支架释放的线索在调节成人iPSC向神经表型分化中的作用。众所周知，含有特定结构和生长因子的分散生物材料支架可以更复杂地引导干细胞发育。实现这一目标能够解决有关神经元生长、分化的基本神经生物学问题，这对于设计神经系统疾病或创伤性脑损伤的治疗方法至关重要。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports international research experiences for U.S. undergraduate students from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) at the University of Victoria (UVic) in Canada in interdisciplinary research representing the fields of bioengineering and neuroscience. The project engages primarily Hispanic engineering students at UTEP, a majority Hispanic 4-year, public institution. Reciprocal visits to UTEP by UVic students will be supported with Canadian funds. UTEP students will be afforded professional development and educational opportunities in cutting-edge research. Specifically, the project engages the synergism of stem cell biology with advanced 3-dimensional biomaterial technology to manufacture tissue from stem cells. Generating patient-specific "artificial" tissue allows the researchers to control the rate of growth and differentiation of stem cells. This research is significant in paving the way for modeling disease and for future drug development. Working together, the interdisciplinary team aims to identify unique approaches of targeting differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells [iPSCs] into neural phenotypes by utilizing advanced materials and processing. Specifically, the UTEP team has expertise in human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) culture and 3D bioprinting, and UVic has expertise in culturing neuronal differentiation of human iPSC on fibrin-based scaffolds. The research focus is the application of microfluidic-based 3D bioprinting for coprinting of human iPSCs together with biomaterial scaffolds to generate bio-composites of the desired architecture with high fidelity. Bioprinting iPSCs with advanced biomaterials and scaffolds bears the promise to develop 3D tissues, ideally including encapsulated cells and facilitating their proliferation, and targeted differentiation. The project enables addressing critical questions in the field: 1) How can advanced materials and their unique designs facilitate stem cell culture and promote their differentiation? 2) How can 3D bioprinting be applied as an advanced manufacturing technique to mimic the complex environment for regulating growth and differentiation of stem cells? 3) Does the differentiated progeny of cells cultured atop micro-textured scaffolds exhibit enhanced functionality and phenotype, compared with controls? Thus, the scientific goal is to better understand the role of growth factors and micro-environmental niche and cues released from biomaterial scaffolds in the regulation of adult human iPSC differentiation into neural phenotypes. It is widely known that distractive biomaterial scaffolds that incorporate patterned structures and specific compartments of growth factors can more intricately guide stem cell development. Achieving this goal enables the ability to address fundamental neurobiological questions about neuronal growth, differentiation, which is essential for designing treatments for nervous system disorders or traumatic brain injury.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.