I-Corps: A conductive scaffold with a tunable mechanical and biochemical environment for spinal cord injury repair

The broader impacts and commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a therapeutic technology to repair spinal cord injury. Currently, there is no treatment capable of fully restoring function following spinal cord injury. Bioengineered scaffolds to repair the spinal cord are currently being evaluated in human patients in ongoing clinical trials.

However, achieving sufficient neural tissue growth to facilitate functional recovery has yet to be achieved in scaffolds implanted in small animal models. The proposed technology is designed to address the challenges of current scaffold designs by using a 3D-printed (prefabricated) scaffold surgically delivered to the site of the injury that may restore function in patients of spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury is a devastating problem that affects thousands of patients each year in the United States with annual healthcare costs of nearly $10 billion per year. The proposed scaffold technology may advance both scientific and technological understanding related to spinal cord injury as well as improve spinal injury outcomes.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a conductive bioink that enables the fabrication of scaffolds for repairing spinal cord injury. Current scaffolds are limited in their ability to tune material properties to increase infiltration and outgrowth of host axons. The proposed scaffold is 3D-printed using digital light processing and features channels oriented in the rostral-caudal direction lined with neurogenic peptides, providing orthogonal control over topological features and cell-matrix interactions to foster axon infiltration and outgrowth to overcome previous limitations.

In addition, the bioink material exhibits conductive properties that may enhance the efficacy of exercise-based rehabilitation to potentially restore function in patients. Preliminary studies in a rat model of spinal cord injury demonstrate substantial infiltration of host axons from these scaffolds. The overall goal for the proposed scaffolds is to replace the regenerative strategies currently under evaluation.

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.