I-Corps: Naturally inspired approach to preserving cellular therapies

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为细胞疗法的冷冻保存提供一个新的平台。这项技术将通过开发细胞类型特异性的冷冻保护溶液和方案来改善细胞的保存，从而在冷冻和解冻后提供高存活率和细胞功能。细胞治疗产业是一个快速增长的市场，预计到2025年将达到82.1亿美元。拟议的项目将通过提高细胞冷冻和解冻后的质量，将这些细胞的保质期从几小时或几天延长到几个月或几年，并缓解与当前保存方法相关的处理瓶颈，从而影响细胞治疗行业。这项技术可以适用于各种细胞类型，可以作为细胞疗法给病人，用于研究应用，或储存在生物银行。这个I-Corps团队项目建立在开发各种细胞类型的冷冻保护解决方案和协议的先前研究的基础上。该技术利用算法驱动的优化来创造新颖、无毒的冷冻保护解决方案，灵感来自生物体如何在自然界中生存。概念验证已通过冷冻保护溶液和优化的间充质干细胞保存方案得到验证，目前正在8个地点进行β测试。针对其他细胞类型的其他技术正在进行中。为特定市场开发这种技术需要对客户需求有透彻的了解。这个I-Corps团队项目旨在通过客户发现访谈来确定客户需求，这将为我们管道中新产品的开发提供信息，以满足这些特定需求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to provide a new platform for the cryopreservation of cellular therapies. This technology will allow for improved preservation of cells through the development of cell-type specific cryoprotective solutions and protocols that deliver high survival and function of cells after freezing and thawing. The cell therapy industry is a rapidly growing market that is expected to reach $8.21 billion by 2025. The proposed project will impact the cell therapy industry by improving quality of cells after freezing and thawing, extending the shelf life of these cells from hours or days to months or years, and alleviating processing bottlenecks associated with current preservation methods. This technology can be adapted for a variety of cell types, which may be administered to patients as cell therapies, used for research applications, or stored in biobanks. This I-Corps Teams project builds upon prior research in the development of cryoprotective solutions and protocols for a variety of cell types. The technology utilizes algorithm-driven optimization to create novel, nontoxic cryoprotective solutions inspired by how organisms survive freezing in nature. Proof-of-concept has been demonstrated with a cryoprotective solution and protocol optimized for the preservation of mesenchymal stem cells, which is currently undergoing beta testing at 8 sites. Additional technologies for other cell types are in progress. Development of this technology for specific markets requires a thorough understanding of customer needs. This I-Corps team project is aimed at identifying customer needs through customer discovery interviews, which will inform the development of new products in our pipeline to meet these specific needs.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.