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NANO2021-Nanoteknologi og nye materiale

Neoteric Biomaterials for hiPSCs Monitorized Differentiation to RGCs: Creation, Microfabrication & Microfluidics (bioMAT4EYE)

Tildelt: kr 3,7 mill.

Numerous cell culture applications have been performed on Matrigel, a basement-membrane matrix extracted from Engelbreth–Holm–Swarm (EHS) mouse sarcomas. From a chemical and structural perspective, Matrigel is of an extraordinary complexity; even if only 4 proteins and proteoglycans account for most of it, up to 15000 peptides and 2000 proteins are additional minor components. Its complexity and origin lead to a batch-to-batch scarce reproducibility, so even lab results based on such biomaterial may not be reliable. Thus, there is an urgent need for highly reliable, highly tuneable biomaterials and synthetic materials that are easy to produce in large amounts (scalable), ideally from detoxified agrofood wastes, to replace Matrigel using environmentally friendly processes and protocols. Cellular products with stable quality and functionality need to be produced in medium-large amounts to face the demand of cells for cell therapy transplantation linked to several disabling rare diseases, such as optic neuropathies, and diseases associated with age (with an expected increment of prevalence of 80% from 2030 to 2050). bioMAT4EYE proposal addresses the quest for new biomaterials based on polysaccharides of microbial and crustacean origin, all focused on promoting the differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to functional and properly projecting retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the neurons that selectively die in glaucoma and other optic neuropathies. Hence, we will optimize the microbial processes to target hydrogels with particular properties (rheology, interaction with hiPSCs, biodegradability), several surface coating procedures based on biopolymers, different conformational technologies to create 2D+ and 3D micro-bioreactors, operational conditions based on microfluidics and on-site/off-site sensors to assess the functionality (quality) of final RGCs.

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NANO2021-Nanoteknologi og nye materiale