Title ARM-IV Postdoctoral Program (Four Positions)
Description 1. “Rational Synthesis of Triggerably-Dissolvable Materials for Minimally Invasive Removal of WoundCAP Delivery Devices”
Mentors: Steven Little, Ph.D. and William Wagner, Ph.D.
Objective: The ultimate objective is to develop a robust, hollow fiber-based system (WoundCAP) to deliver regenerative growth factors to a wound site while including the means for minimally invasive removal/dissolution of the delivery system. We hypothesize that the resulting hollow fibers wound cap will have robust mechanical properties to maintain stable structures, but will dissolve rapidly upon application of a trigger, either a temperature change or enzyme solution injection.
2. “Composite Scaffolds for Bone and Soft Tissue Attachments Targeted to Limb and Digit as Well as Craniofacial”
Mentors: Charles Sfeir, DDS, PhD and Alejandro Almarza, PhD (Basic Science Mentors); Bernard J. Costello, MD (Clinical Mentor)
Objective: The overall objective of this project is to engineer a regeneration therapy for the bone/tendon complex to provide both hard and soft tissue integration after injury. The study will use hybrid scaffolds to provide the appropriate microenvironment for both bones and tendon cells. Three dimensional manufacturing techniques will be used to print the biphasic scaffold where bone marrow derived stem cells will be seeded to form the hard/soft tissue constructs. These constructs will be implanted in-vivo to determine their efficacy to regenerate the bone/tendon interface.
3. “Matrix Mediated Enhancement of Musculotendinous Tissue Regeneration”
Mentor: Stephen F. Badylak, DVM, PhD, MD
Objective: To determine the mechanism(s) by which multipotential stem/progenitor cells are recruited to the site of constructive remodeling/regeneration when biologic scaffolds are used as a therapeutic intervention for traumatic musculotendinous injury, and to characterize the “genetic signature” of the mammalian multipotential cells at the regenerative site and compare this genetic profile to cells that compose a true “blastema” found in regenerating species such as the newt.
4. “Scaffolds for Vascularized Bone Regeneration”
Mentor: Yadong Wang, Ph.D.
Objective:Bone regeneration is very important in limb and digit regenerative medicine because bone formation is a basic step in limb pattern regeneration. Our long-term goal is to restore function in damaged bone tissues via holistic bone tissue engineering that includes closely-related tissues such as blood vessels and nerve. We propose to achieve this by using scaffolds containing multi-regenerative factors. The objective of this proposal is co-regeneration of bone and blood vessels.
Source PTEI/DOD
Term 10/01/10 – 09/15/12
Amount: $800,768