MINORITY PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds have been successfully used in more than 300,000 human patients in both soft and hard tissue replacement applications. ECM scaffolds promote site specific tissue remodeling and are completely and rapidly degraded during the remodelling process. However, ECM-derived scaffolds are limited by the inherent mechanical and material properties of the tissue from which they are derived. Electrospun poly(ester-urethane)urea (PEUU) scaffolds represent an alternative elastomeric material that recreates the fibrous ultrastructure of the ECM. However, PEUU scaffolds lack the bioactivity inherent in the ECM scaffolds. It is the central hypothesis of the proposed research that a hybrid scaffold composed of solubilized ECM and PEUU into electrospun material will result in a bioactive elastomeric scaffold with predictable physical properties. Three specific aims are proposed: (1) to solubilize a porcine urinary bladder ECM via enzymatic degradation; (2) to electrospin and characterize a combination of the urinary bladder ECM with PEUU; and (3) to characterize the host tissue response to both the digested ECM and the polymer-ECM scaffold after implantation in an in vivo model.