Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineering
Abstract
The objective of the Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineering program is the development of tissue and organ construction platforms that utilize non-contact forces such as magnetic fields to achieve desired tissue architectures. The Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineering program is developing platforms that would circumvent current limitations by removing the use of a material scaffold and providing simultaneous control of multiple cell/tissue types for the construction of large, complex tissues in vitro and in vivo. The program will provide a paradigm shift versus current tissue engineering approaches using permanent or resorbable protein scaffolds. Such scaffolds are limited to construct sizes of 2-3 square millimeters due to oxygen and nutrient diffusion limitations, which severely limits the complexity of the tissue(s) constructed to a single cell type. In vivo, scaffold-based tissue engineering has not achieved anticipated widespread application due to the inability to properly control the cellular response to the implanted scaffold and due to difficulties in controlling the scaffold integrity/degradation. The initial Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineering program component is the development of non-contact cell positioning procedures. The fundamental goal is to correctly position target cells in a desired pattern for a sufficient period of time to allow the cells to synthesize their own scaffold. Potential approaches include magnetic field and/or dielectrophoretic positioning. Critical to early programmatic achievement is the capability to position at least two cell types through the identification of cellular magnetic taggants, characterization of cellular dielectric characteristics and determination of application dynamics (e.g., duration, cycles, amplitude) to achieve multicellular tissue construction in vitro. A potential transition to an in situ application would allow wound site reconstruction without the need to implant scaffold material. Construction of a stable implantable skeletal muscle construct (5 cm3) with vascular and neural components will be the final programmatic demonstration.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2012
- Source ID
- 3eb8a6e9d2a7b5e6b9d25c1e9ca6e596