Grant: Project Grant

The field of tissue engineering aims to create functional tissues from human cells and scaffolds that can replace damaged tissues in patients. However, to perform therapeutic repairs, lab-grown tissues often need to be delivered deep into the interior of a damaged organ in a patient while preserving a high-level of tissue structural organization, which makes the implantation surgery not only invasive but in many cases impossible to achieve. This project seeks to address the way we implement tissue engineered products by developing smart scaffolds and functional tissues that can be delivered minimally invasively and then self-assemble in the human body with external guidance. Specifically, we will develop a new therapeutic solution to deliver functional tissues for heart repairs in a minimally invasive manner. Building on our prior success in cardiovascular tissue engineering, our lab is taking a leap forward to introduce a new strategy in tissue repairs with smart functional materials. We envision that incorporating magnetic particles inside a biodegradable scaffold will result in a biodegradable, magnetic-responsive scaffold-based carrier that can be used to support the culture of engineered heart muscles. Then a collection of these magnetic-scaffolds will serve as carriers to deliver and assemble the engineered heart tissues directly into the interior of the damaged heart muscle wall in a patient with minimally invasive injections. The magnetic-scaffolds will induce cellular alignment as well as tissue alignment with remotely controlled magnetic guidance. Finally, our scaffold materials will degrade as the heart heals. Collectively, these smart micro-scaffolds will guide tissue assembly in the body in a step-by-step fashion. This delivery method will allow us to reverse heart failure by delivering engineered heart tissues with a minimally invasive surgical procedure and by re-growing new muscles inside the heart.