NSF Engines: Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine

皮埃蒙特三合会再生医学引擎（皮埃蒙特三合会引擎）正在努力建立一个生态系统周围的强大资产在再生医学（RM）领域的基础上，在维克森林再生医学研究所（WFIRM）与其广泛的合作伙伴网络合作。该引擎位于北卡罗来纳州中部的皮埃蒙特三合会地区，将提供资源，以加速将以使用为灵感的RM技术转变为商业产品，为该地区及其多样化的社区创造经济驱动力。RM行业的这种增长有助于解决长期的区域挑战，这些挑战与烟草，纺织品和家具工作岗位在整个服务区域的流失所留下的就业不足的当地劳动力的再培训和技能提升有关。该项目优先考虑为该地区历史悠久的黑人学院和大学（HBCUs）建立技术基础设施，以减少STEM领域代表性不足的群体的差距。再生医学有望提供永久性治疗，而不是缓解症状，这是一个重要的进步，因为医疗保健成本不断上升。目标是打破对终身维持药物和治疗的依赖循环。技术重点领域包括用于生产可推向市场的RM产品的标准化材料和工艺。行业合作伙伴和社区利益相关者将推动技术发展的方向，同时允许通过学术研究环境进行创造性创新。从皮埃蒙特Triad Engine诞生的技术将通过一个强大的业务开发系统进行商业化，从而产生新的公司和增加的劳动力需求，这些需求将由皮埃蒙特Triad Engine的合作伙伴，包括两年制社区和技术学院来满足。这个NSF引擎将建立在行业使用启发和指导的研究基础上，涵盖产品构思和开发，转化科学，生物制造，和下一代战略，包括太空RM技术。创新，翻译，教育核心系统将在合作的学术机构中开发，包括HBCU和服务区域的技术学院，该系统结合了多个科学专业领域，以应对RM多学科领域的挑战。由皮埃蒙特Triad Engine提供的资源将提高该地区的竞争优势，并利用其作为RM行业中心的全国声誉，皮埃蒙特三元发动机将对该地区产生变革性的影响，通过创造一个新的训练有素的RM劳动力，使美国在下一代发动机的开发和制造方面具有竞争优势。新一代RM疗法有可能影响全球数百万人。从技术创新中产生的RM业务将成为经济驱动力，吸引全国各地利益相关者的投资。创造新的RM产品和业务将创造自我维持的区域繁荣，对该地区的许多社区产生经济影响，包括历史上处于不利地位的黑人社区在皮埃蒙特三合会地区。这个NSF发动机项目是建立在一个强大的研究和开发组合在WFIRM，并强调转化为实践和商业化的步骤，建立一个创新的生态系统与强大的劳动力发展伙伴关系已经在服务区域的组织。生物医学技术和RM行业显示出与服务区域优先事项的高度一致性，这一点得到了与现场访问团队合作的热情合作伙伴的有力支持。领导层已准备好利用NSF引擎资源来弥合研究实验室和商业市场之间的差距，而不会让当地社区落后。社区参与和劳动力培训将是皮埃蒙特Triad Engine成功的关键。该奖项反映了NSF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 Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine (the Piedmont Triad Engine) is working to build an ecosystem around strong assets in the field of regenerative medicine (RM) based at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) in collaboration with its extensive network of partners. Located in the Piedmont Triad region of central North Carolina, the Engine will provide the resources to accelerate transition of use-inspired RM technologies into commercial products, creating an economic driver for the region and its diverse communities. This growth in the RM industry helps to address long-term regional challenges related to retraining and upskilling of an underemployed local workforce left behind by the loss of tobacco, textiles and furniture jobs throughout the region of service. The project prioritizes building a technical infrastructure for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the region to reduce disparities for underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Regenerative medicine promises to offer permanent cures rather than relief from symptoms, which is an important advance given rising healthcare costs. The goal is to break the cycle of dependence on lifelong maintenance drugs and therapies. Areas of technical focus include standardized materials and processes for the production of RM products that can be brought to market. Industry partners and community stakeholders will drive the direction of the technology development, while allowing for creative innovation through the academic research environment. Technologies born from the Piedmont Triad Engine will be commercialized through a robust business development system, giving rise to new companies and increased workforce demand that will be met by the Piedmont Triad Engine’s partners including two-year community and technical colleges.This NSF Engine will be built upon industry use-inspired and guided research spanning product ideation and development, translational science, biomanufacturing, and next generation strategies, including In-Space RM technologies. An Innovation, Translation, & Education Core system will be developed across partnering academic institutions, including at HBCUs and technical colleges in the region of service, that combines multiple areas of scientific expertise to address challenges in the multidisciplinary field of RM. The resources provided by the Piedmont Triad Engine will increase the region’s competitive advantage and leverage its national reputation as a hub for the RM industry, attracting more capital and new companies to the region.The Piedmont Triad Engine will have transformative impact on the region by creating a new trained RM workforce that will give the U.S. a competitive edge in the development and manufacture of next-generation RM therapies with potential to impact millions of individuals worldwide. RM businesses that emerge from technical innovations will be economic drivers, attracting investment from stakeholders across the nation. Creation of new RM products and businesses will create self-sustaining regional prosperity with economic impact for many communities in the region, including historically disadvantaged Black communities in the Piedmont Triad region.This NSF Engine project is built on a strong research and development portfolio at WFIRM and emphasizes the translation to practice and commercialization steps of building an innovation ecosystem in partnership with strong workforce development organizations already in the region of service. Biomedical technologies and the RM industry show strong alignment with the priorities of the region of service, which was reinforced by the strong showing of enthusiastic partners who engaged with the site visit team. The leadership is ready to utilize the NSF Engine resources to bridge the gap between the research lab and the commercial market without leaving the local community behind. Community engagement and workforce training will be key to the success of the Piedmont Triad Engine.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.