I-Corps: A conductive scaffold with a tunable mechanical and biochemical environment for spinal cord injury repair

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响和商业潜力是开发一种修复脊髓损伤的治疗技术。 目前，还没有能够完全恢复脊髓损伤后功能的治疗方法。 修复脊髓的生物工程支架目前正在进行的临床试验中对人类患者进行评估。 然而，实现足够的神经组织生长，以促进功能恢复尚未实现在支架植入小动物模型。 所提出的技术旨在通过使用3D打印（预制）支架手术递送到损伤部位来解决当前支架设计的挑战，该支架可以恢复脊髓损伤患者的功能。 脊髓损伤是一个毁灭性的问题，在美国每年影响成千上万的患者，每年的医疗费用接近100亿美元。 提出的支架技术可能会促进与脊髓损伤相关的科学和技术理解，并改善脊髓损伤的结果。这个I-Corps项目是基于一种导电生物墨水的开发，这种墨水能够制造用于修复脊髓损伤的支架。 目前的支架在调节材料特性以增加宿主轴突的浸润和生长的能力方面是有限的。所提出的支架是使用数字光处理进行3D打印的，其特征是在吻尾方向上取向的通道与神经源性肽排列，提供对拓扑特征和细胞-基质相互作用的正交控制，以促进轴突浸润和生长，以克服以前的限制。 此外，生物墨水材料表现出导电特性，可以增强基于运动的康复的功效，以潜在地恢复患者的功能。 在大鼠脊髓损伤模型中的初步研究表明，这些支架的宿主轴突大量浸润。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

The broader impacts and commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a therapeutic technology to repair spinal cord injury. Currently, there is no treatment capable of fully restoring function following spinal cord injury. Bioengineered scaffolds to repair the spinal cord are currently being evaluated in human patients in ongoing clinical trials. However, achieving sufficient neural tissue growth to facilitate functional recovery has yet to be achieved in scaffolds implanted in small animal models. The proposed technology is designed to address the challenges of current scaffold designs by using a 3D-printed (prefabricated) scaffold surgically delivered to the site of the injury that may restore function in patients of spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury is a devastating problem that affects thousands of patients each year in the United States with annual healthcare costs of nearly $10 billion per year. The proposed scaffold technology may advance both scientific and technological understanding related to spinal cord injury as well as improve spinal injury outcomes. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a conductive bioink that enables the fabrication of scaffolds for repairing spinal cord injury. Current scaffolds are limited in their ability to tune material properties to increase infiltration and outgrowth of host axons. The proposed scaffold is 3D-printed using digital light processing and features channels oriented in the rostral-caudal direction lined with neurogenic peptides, providing orthogonal control over topological features and cell-matrix interactions to foster axon infiltration and outgrowth to overcome previous limitations. In addition, the bioink material exhibits conductive properties that may enhance the efficacy of exercise-based rehabilitation to potentially restore function in patients. Preliminary studies in a rat model of spinal cord injury demonstrate substantial infiltration of host axons from these scaffolds. The overall goal for the proposed scaffolds is to replace the regenerative strategies currently under evaluation.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.