I-Corps: Extracellular matrix materials for use in creating tissue scaffolding to regenerate tissues

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a healing gel used to support tissue growth in wounds for people with diabetes and foot ulcers, as well as other wound-healing applications. The current market solution for foot ulcers in diabetics is a gel that has low success rates as the body breaks down the gel's proteins extremely fast.

The proposed technology differs from the current solution in that it doesn't rely on proteins for wound healing, and thus the product doesn't get consumed by the body at such a rapid rate. Foot ulcers are a problem for 25% of the 34.2 million diabetics living in the United States. With the current option on the market, 25 percent of the ulcers become chronically infected, with 25 percent of those patients needing amputations.

Even with amputation, 50 percent of amputees, 1.05 million people, die each year in the US from gangrene acquired with foot ulcers. A Market Research Report by BCC on Organ and Tissue Transplantation and Alternatives shows this innovation fits a global market reaching nearly $90.6 billion by 2020.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel biomaterial created using extracellular matrix materials isolated from ctenophores, which have highly regenerative properties. A material fabricated by laser to match a tissue's authentic architecture serves to guide cells to regenerate tissues into their original structure. The software controls cell growth and differentiation in the framework of a tissue's authentic extracellular matrix architecture within one of three novel bioreactor systems using peripheral devices that create environmental conditions promoting tissue regeneration.

The inventions include two standalone systems used to hold and support bio-printed and/or laser-fabricated tissue constructs. The proposed technology produces molecular scaffolding for tissue regeneration using novel growth factor materials isolated from the extracellular matrix of ancestral tissues from ctenophore incorporated into molecular scaffolding to guide tissue regeneration.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.