Nanosystems ERC for Cellular Metamaterials
Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the US and a leading cause worldwide, but current medicine cannot regenerate diseased human heart tissue. Today, there is no cure for a heart attack. The vision of CELL-MET is to change this. CELL-MET will develop tissue-engineering principles to create scalable, low-cost technologies for growing clinically significant cardiac tissues from cell-level building blocks. The research will adapt and advance novel nanomanufacturing techniques to integrate a variety of functional biological structures and elements into flexible polymer scaffolds that support and guide heart cells. Our goal is to create cardiac patches that will someday allow for the repair of hearts damaged by a heart attack or other diseases.
In addition to their potential for repairing damaged hearts, artificial cardiac tissues will be used to test the effects of heart drugs or other drugs more realistically and efficiently than is currently possible. Broader impacts will include kindergarten to postdoc education and training programs that will produce a diverse, well-trained, world-aware workforce to support the new, billion dollar industries enabled by CELL-MET research. Industrial partners will work with CELL-MET to create these new industries, developing the business opportunities generated by the research breakthroughs.
The NSF Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials – CELL-MET plans to accomplish four goals with the cellular metamaterials it intends to build: fabricate responsive heart tissue containing muscle cells and blood vessels; understand and control the tissue using optical technologies; scale the process up to easily create multiple copies of the tissue; and personalize the product, so it can be tailored to individual patients.
Synthesizing Personalized Heart Tissue for Clinical Use
The NSF Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials – CELL-MET – is designed to stimulate translation of research to practice by facilitating worldwide corporate, clinical, and institutional partnerships. CELL-MET—with Boston University as the lead institution— aims to transform cardiovascular care by combining breakthroughs in nanotechnology and manufacturing with tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, while also developing areas of expertise in education, diversity, administration, and outreach.
CELL-MET HQ: BU Photonics Center
CELL-MET will use the latest multiscale 3D printing technologies to engineer scaffolds that guide cells to assemble into complex tissues that exhibit desired behaviors. The scaffolds will incorporate actuators to apply dynamic electrical and mechanical signals as well as cellular “glues” that include biological signaling molecules, all of which can be chosen to foster desired activity of the cells and tissue. The researchers will also employ optogenetics and other imaging techniques to monitor and control cellular activity. The ultimate goal is to fabricate personalized heart tissue that could be used in the shorter term to test the efficacy of drugs and eventually to replace diseased or damaged muscle after a heart attack.
4 specific areas—or “thrusts”—of technical expertise:
3D CELL PATTERNING
CELL SCAFFOLDS
TISSUE ENGINEERING
IMAGING
Boston University
University of Michigan
Florida International University
Harvard Medical School
Columbia University
Wyss Institute
Argonne National Laboratory
Bariloche Atomic Center
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Notice: Please contact international@erc-assoc.org if you represent this Research Institution and have identified any required additions or modifications to the above information.