Excellence in Research: Biodegradable Functional Hydrogels for Bone Loss Applications

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PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYHydrogels show great promise as biomaterials however, their use is still limited. This award seeks to provide foundational knowledge in the design principles of hydrogel delivery systems for bone loss application. The results obtained from this study will improve our current understanding of hydrogel-based biomaterials using basic science and engineering techniques. The transdisciplinary nature of this investigation will foster new collaborations across the campus and off-campus. This award will provide high school students, undergraduates, and a postdoctoral fellow training, mentoring, and research experience on the fabrication and characterization of the hydrogel matrix, thus enhancing students and fellow STEM training and preparing them for higher education and careers in the STEM field. Completing these studies will provide robust evidence-based proof of principle for the future development of hydrogel-based interventions that directly address bone loss concerns. TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This award supports the development of a mechanically stable, functional hydrogel tailored for encapsulating and providing sustained delivery of both anti-resorptive agents typified by the bisphosphonates (BPs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). This proposed study aims to determine the feasibility of the co-existence of BP’s to inhibit osteoclasts activities and MSCs to differentiate into osteoblasts forming neo bone with the degrading hydrogel. This study will also evaluate and characterize BP-coated HA's dispersion along with MSCs in the hydrogel matrix. The methods used in this investigation will include the following: fabrication and characterization of hydrogel matrix using mechanical testing, release studies, biochemical and cell assays, histology, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and statistical design of experiments. This proposal will expand the field of hydrogel-based biomaterials intended for applications in contact with biological systems. It will also contribute to developing a potentially translational hydrogel for mesenchymal stem cell-based therapeutics for further investigations in bone loss and other biomedical applications. The award will also provide high school students, undergraduates, and a postdoctoral fellow with research experiences, thus preparing them for higher education and careers in STEM fields.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.