PFI-TT: Development of artificial substrates for growth of human stem cells suitable for clinical applications

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系（PFI-TT）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是加速利用人类多能干细胞及其衍生物治疗和治愈疾病的潜在效益。如果成功，该项目将允许在无动物、明确和可再生的条件下培养人类多能干细胞。这项技术将对推进生物医学科学产生重大影响，因为在使用人类多能干细胞衍生的细胞或器官进行移植时，无动物生长条件将防止引发免疫反应。此外，在确定的条件下培养细胞将为方法学上研究与人体发育以及疾病病理和治疗相关的问题提供一种新的工具。拟议的项目解决了人类多能干细胞体外生长的不确定和不一致的条件问题，这些条件也含有动物来源的污染物。该项目将生产一种合成基质，支持人类多能干细胞在无动物和完全确定的条件下生长。该项目的研究目标是在不影响基材性能的情况下，测试合适的基材灭菌方法。其次，合成基板的保质期也将被确定。第三，新基质的特性将使用不同的成分进行复制，最后，与人类多能干细胞与新合成基质培养相关的其他成分将被选择性地定义。总的来说，目标是进一步改进和创造商业化的原型合成基板。这项新技术如果成功，将使生物医学科学家进一步推进人类多能干细胞的知识和临床应用。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to accelerate the potential benefit of using human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives for treating and curing diseases. If successful, this project will allow the culture of human pluripotent stem cells in conditions that are animal-free, defined, and reproducible. This technology will have a significant impact on advancing biomedical sciences since animal-free growth conditions will prevent triggering immunological responses in transplants using cells or organs derived from the human pluripotent stem cells. In addition, the culture of the cells in defined conditions will provide a new tool needed to methodologically investigate questions related to human body development as well as disease pathology and treatment.The proposed project addresses the problem of undefined and inconsistent conditions for the in vitro growth of human pluripotent stem cells that also contain animal-derived contaminants. This project will produce a synthetic substrate that supports the growth of human pluripotent stem cells in animal-free and fully defined conditions. The research objectives of this project are to test suitable methods for the sterilization of substrates without affecting their properties. Secondly, the shelf-life of the synthetic substrate will be also determined. Third, the properties of the new substrate will be replicated using different components, and finally, other components associated with the culture of human pluripotent stem cells with the new synthetic substrate will be selectively defined. Overall, the goal is to further improve and create a prototype synthetic substrate for commercialization. This new technology, if successful, will allow biomedical scientists to further advance the knowledge and clinical use of human pluripotent stem cells.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.