NSF Engines: Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine

皮埃蒙特三合会再生医学引擎（Piedmont Triad Engine）正致力于与其广泛的合作伙伴网络合作，围绕再生医学（RM）领域的强大资产建立一个生态系统，该生态系统以维克森林再生医学研究所（WFIRM）为基础。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，加速将使用启发的 RM 技术转化为商业产品，为该地区及其多元化社区创造经济驱动力。 RM行业的增长有助于解决与当地劳动力再培训和技能提升相关的长期区域挑战，这些劳动力因整个服务地区烟草、纺织和家具工作岗位的流失而留下。该项目优先为该地区的历史悠久的黑人学院和大学 (HBCU) 建设技术基础设施，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，鉴于医疗成本不断上升，这是一个重要的进步。目标是打破对终身维持药物和疗法的依赖循环。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方向，同时通过学术研究环境实现创造性创新。 Piedmont Triad Engine 诞生的技术将通过强大的业务开发系统进行商业化，从而催生新公司并增加劳动力需求，而 Piedmont Triad Engine 的合作伙伴（包括两年制社区和技术学院）将满足这些需求。该 NSF Engine 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 In-Space RM 技术）。创新、翻译和教育核心系统将在合作学术机构之间开发，包括服务地区的 HBCU 和技术学院，该系统结合了多个领域的科学专业知识，以应对 RM 多学科领域的挑战。皮埃蒙特三合引擎提供的资源将提高该地区的竞争优势，并利用其作为 RM 行业中心的国家声誉，吸引更多资本和新公司来到该地区。皮埃蒙特三合引擎将通过培养新的训练有素的 RM 劳动力对该地区产生变革性影响，这将使美国在下一代 RM 疗法的开发和制造方面具有竞争优势，并有可能影响全球数百万人。技术创新中出现的 RM 企业将成为经济驱动力，吸引全国利益相关者的投资。新 RM 产品和业务的创建将创造自给自足的区域繁荣，对该地区的许多社区产生经济影响，包括皮埃蒙特三合会地区历史上处于不利地位的黑人社区。这个 NSF Engine 项目建立在 WFIRM 强大的研发组合基础上，强调与服务区域已有的强大劳动力发展组织合作建立创新生态系统的实践和商业化步骤的转化。生物医学技术和 RM 行业与服务区域的优先事项表现出高度一致，现场考察团队热情合作伙伴的强烈表现进一步强化了这一点。领导层已准备好利用 NSF Engine 资源来弥合研究实验室和商业市场之间的差距，同时不让当地社区落后。社区参与和劳动力培训将是皮埃蒙特三角引擎成功的关键。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点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.