Mineralomics: Designing mineral based therapeutics to control and direct cell function

摘要 提出了一系列实验，以开发一种新的矿物基纳米颗粒技术来调制 再生疗法中缺乏生长因子时的细胞活动。目前的治疗方法是 调节细胞反应包括传递多种超生理剂量的生长因子，这些生长因子 导致一系列并发症，包括组织形成失控、炎症和肿瘤形成。 这些不利地限制了生长因子在再生医学领域中作为治疗剂的使用。 在这个新创新者奖中，我提议开发新的矿物基纳米颗粒来调节和引导 在没有生长因子的情况下人类干细胞的分化。我们期望有足够的和 有效的不含生长因子的疗法可以通过利用我们的 关于矿物质诱导的分子信号的知识。这项研究建议特别好 适合这种独特的资助机制，因为它提出了创新、高风险和高回报的研究 在生物工程和干细胞的交界处，这将对修复和再生产生重大影响 受损的组织。我们建议将高通量计算基因组学、干细胞 生物学、材料科学、微制造和再生医学，以设计基于 矿物质诱导细胞信号的新概念，但尚未被探索。我们的期望是， 全面了解受矿物质使用调节的分子途径将从根本上 改变目前以生长因子为基础的修复和再生受损组织的方法。

SUMMARY A set of experiments is proposed to develop a new mineral-based nanoparticle technology for modulating the cellular activity in absence of growth factors for regenerative therapies. Current therapeutic approaches to regulate cellular responses include delivery of a multitude of supraphysiological doses of growth factors that results in a range of complications, including uncontrolled tissue formation, inflammation, and tumorogenesis. These adversely limit the usage of growth factors as a therapeutic agent in the field of regenerative medicine. In this New Innovator Award, I propose to develop new mineral-based nanoparticles to regulate and direct the differentiation of human stem cells in the absence of growth factors. It is our expectation that adequate and efficacious grow-factor free therapeutics can be designed for regenerative medicine by leveraging our knowledge about the molecular signaling induced by minerals. This research proposal is particularly well suited for this unique funding mechanism because it proposes innovative, high-risk, and high-reward research at the interface of bioengineering and stem cells that would have a major impact on repair and regeneration of damaged tissue. We propose to combine principles of high throughput computational genomics, stem cell biology, materials science, microfabrication, and regenerative medicine to design novel strategies based on newly emerging but unexplored concepts of mineral-induces cellular signaling. It is our expectation that a comprehensive understanding of the molecular pathways regulated by the usage of minerals will radically alter the current growth-factor based approach to repair and regenerate damage tissue.