Advanced 3D bioprinnting platform for articular cartilage regeneration

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of articular cartilage lesions affecting the mobility of nearly 59 million people in the United States and European Union combined. In addition, OA is the main cause of economic loss in the equine industry, once it induces lameness that may limit or end the athletic career of horses. Without a consistent and durable long-term therapeutic solution available, researchers have been exploring alternative strategies based on the concept of Tissue Engineering. Particular interest has been focussed on bioprinting of 3D implants capable of recapitulating the hierarchical organization of articular cartilage and promoting stem cell differentiation towards in situ formation of new functional tissue. However, the lack of biomaterials capable of meeting, contemporaneously, printability and cell viability/differentiation requirements, together with the limited clinical relevance of in vivo models, are clearly recognized as two of the major bottlenecks preventing the advancement of this field. This projects aims to establish and further consolidate a collaboration between two well-established research groups at the University of São Paulo (Brazil) and the University of Manchester (UK) in the area of AC regeneration. In particular, we propose visits and exchange of academic staff and PhD students, which will enable the qualitatively development of ongoing projects, provide advanced training to postgraduate students through seminars and workshops in advanced biomaterials and bioprinting, and plan new joint grant applications (e.g. BBSRC-FAPESP) which will ensure the long term sustainability of the research collaboration. This SPRINT application represents a unique opportunity for our groups to work together towards the development of an integrated platform where novel bioactive materials, stem cells and bioprinting technologies can be combined to generate 3D implants with tailored physico-chemical properties for the systematic in vivo study (equine model) of the mechanisms underpinning AC regeneration. (AU)