Imaging and Biomaterials Characterization

成像和生物材料表征

• 批准号: CRC-2021-00391
• 负责人: Guidolin, Leila
• 金额: $ 5.1万
• 依托单位: Carleton University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Canada Research Chairs
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=755467
• 关键词: Imaging; Biomaterials; Characterization

Finding Cures for the Incurable: Combining Tissue Engineering & Imaging to Understand Fibrosis Fibrosis, which can occur in such tissues as the lungs, liver, heart, and brain, is a hallmark of several diseases including certain types of cancer, atherosclerosis, and asthma. The fibrosis process occurs when wound healing mechanisms - the beneficial tissue remodelling processes - go awry, leading to overgrowth, hardening, and/or scarring of various tissues. Characteristic accumulation of excess collagen and remodelling are contributing factors to asthma, among other diseases. Asthma is a Canadian and worldwide public health problem. One of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in Canada, it affects 1 in 12 Canadians or ~8% of the national population. In Canada, the direct costs of asthma are estimated to be $41 billion per year (~13% of Canadian health care funding), making it the second most expensive disease to treat. Current treatments, which only relieve patient symptoms, are unable to reverse the disease process. Healthy lungs inflate and deflate as we breathe due to a net of collagen and elastic fibers, part of an intricate network called the extracellular matrix (ECM), which provides a structure for cell movement and function. Asthma patients have difficulty breathing because the tubes (airways) that carry air in and out of the lungs become scarred and obstructed by continuous injuries. This constant injury results in a build-up of scarring due to non-elastic fibres, such as collagen, that change the ECM structure and modify cell behaviour. However, key fundamental processes associated with fibrosis and changes in tissues are still very poorly understood. Dr. Mostaço-Guidolin's ambitious research combines tissue engineering with high-resolution imaging to design artificial tissues to mimic airway injury and repair. Recovery from injury requires the coordinated activation of a variety of different pathways, including cells and certain ECM alterations. Using microscopy imaging technologies, Dr. Mostaço-Guidolin will look at changes happening within the ECM with an unprecedented level of detail.In the long term, this research will guide the identification of new targets for the development of new medications not only for asthma, but for a range of widespread, deadly, and otherwise incurable fibrotic diseases that affect the lives of many Canadians.

纤维化可以发生在肺、肝、心脏和大脑等组织中，是几种疾病的标志，包括某些类型的癌症、动脉粥样硬化和哮喘。当伤口愈合机制-有益的组织重塑过程-出错时，纤维化过程发生，导致各种组织的过度生长、硬化和/或瘢痕形成。在其他疾病中，过量胶原蛋白的特征性积累和重塑是哮喘的促成因素。哮喘是一个加拿大和世界性的公共卫生问题。它是加拿大最常见的慢性呼吸道疾病之一，每12个加拿大人中就有1人患有它，约占全国人口的8%。在加拿大，哮喘的直接费用估计为每年410亿美元（约占加拿大医疗保健资金的13%），使其成为治疗费用第二高的疾病。目前的治疗方法只能缓解患者症状，无法逆转疾病进程。当我们呼吸时，健康的肺由于胶原蛋白和弹性纤维的网络而膨胀和收缩，这是称为细胞外基质（ECM）的复杂网络的一部分，它为细胞运动和功能提供了结构。哮喘患者呼吸困难，因为携带空气进出肺部的管道（气道）因持续受伤而结疤和阻塞。这种持续的损伤导致由于非弹性纤维（如胶原蛋白）而形成的瘢痕，其改变ECM结构并改变细胞行为。然而，与纤维化和组织变化相关的关键基本过程仍然知之甚少。 Mostaço-Guidolin博士雄心勃勃的研究将组织工程与高分辨率成像相结合，设计人工组织来模拟气道损伤和修复。从损伤中恢复需要各种不同途径的协调激活，包括细胞和某些ECM改变。Mostaço-Guidolin博士将利用显微成像技术，以前所未有的细节水平观察ECM内发生的变化。从长远来看，这项研究将指导新药物开发的新目标的确定，不仅用于哮喘，而且用于一系列广泛的，致命的，以及影响许多加拿大人生活的不可治愈的纤维化疾病。