OPTIMIZATION OF STEM CELL-LADEN SMART BIOMATERIALS FOR 3D BIOPRINTING OF HUMAN CORNEA

Human corneal blindness severely affects the quality of life of millions of people worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, more than 217 million have moderate to severe vision impairment, and more than 40 million people have blindness as a result of corneal diseases as well as cataract. Currently, corneal transplantation is the promising way to treat blindness, and this has been one of the most successful transplantation surgeries in the human body. Though the corneal transplantation has restored the vision of several million people, there is currently 1 donor cornea for 70 needed, which necessitates the development of engineered corneal equivalents for restoring vision. 3D bioprinting represents state-of-the-art technology for production of tissue for use in human transplantation. Production of smart biomaterials is much needed and their enrichment with stem cells is highly desired, while smart biomaterials with anti-microbial and –fungal properties are becoming a necessity. We have isolated, cultivated and characterized corneal stem cells in GMP-grade conditions with smart biomaterials and used in 3D bioprinting and transplantation into organ cultures of pig corneas. In addition, we have produced smart cornea biomaterials that contain antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that show wide-spectrum anti-microbial activity. The present project could successfullyexpand the existing knowledge of advanced biomaterials, their synthesis and application in bioprinting or tissue engineering of the cornea, as well as other cell therapy purposes in ophthalmology and other fields of medicine. Two innovation applications for a new 3D-bioprinter and anti-microbial/-fungal biomaterials have been submitted to the innovation office at UiO/OUS during this project.

Human corneal blindness, due to injury or disease, severely affects the quality of life of millions of people worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, more than 200 million have moderate to severe vision impairment, and more than 40 million people have blindness as a result of corneal diseases as well as cataract. Around 1.2 million people have vision loss in Western Europe, including Norway. In India, it is estimated that around 6.8 million people have vision less than 6/60 in at least one eye. It is expected that the number of corneal blindness in India will increase to 10.6 million by 2020. Currently, corneal transplantation is the promising way to treat blindness, and this has been one of the most successful transplantation surgeries in the human body. Though the corneal transplantation has restored the vision of several million people, there is still a desperate shortage of donor corneas, which necessitates the development of engineered corneal equivalents for restoring vision. 3D bioprinting represents state-of-the-art technology for production of tissue for use in human transplantation. Production of smart biomaterials is much needed and their enrichment with stem cells is highly desired, while 3D bioprinted cornea equivalents are a necessity, due to the increasing number of corneal blindness worldwide and the shortage of donor corneas. Isolation, cultivation and characterization of cornea limbal epithelial stem cells and corneal stroma stem cells in GMP-grade conditions will provide the building blocks, which together with smart biomaterials such as gelatine methacrylate and collagen, can be used in 3D bioprinting. The present project will serve to expand the existing knowledge of advanced biomaterials’ synthesis and their application to bioprinting of stem cells, which can be used for tissue engineering and cell therapy purposes in ophthalmology and other fields of medicine.