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Project

Magnetically-driven biofabrication of cartilaginous assembloid implants for osteochondral regeneration

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most frequently encountered chronic joint disease worldwide. Patients with this musculoskeletal disorder suffer from pain and progressive loss of joint function and mobility. It therefore features among the leading causes of chronic disability, is strongly linked with ageing and the obesity pandemic, and affects more than 25% of the adult population. Large population studies reveal that osteochondral or chondral injuries are considered a major risk factor in the development of knee OA. Therefore, regenerative strategies to repair damaged joint surfaces should be pursued, in particular deep osteochondral defects inevitably leading to OA. Recent progress in organoid-based tissue engineering and bioprinting could offers solutions in tackling this challenge. Advancements enable the development of engineered implants possess biologic and structural similarity to native tissues. In this project we aim to employ populations of cartilaginous organoids possessing distinct mechanism of action and engineer implants with zone specific functionality. To avoid limitations posed by current bioprinting strategies such as high shear stress during extrusion and inhomogenous distribution of organoids a bottom-up magnetically driven strategy is envisaged. The development of high precision patterned tissues could serve upon validation as a means to address such challenging defects (as the osteochondral one) and prevent the onset of osteoarthritis
Date:1 Mar 2021 →  28 Feb 2023
Keywords:organoids, osteochondral defect regeneration, bottom-up biofabrication, biopatterning
Disciplines:Tissue engineering, Cell therapy