Top 4 grants in regenerative medicine: October 2022
This month’s top grants in regenerative medicine, sourced from Dimensions, include projects on a bioengineering platform to promote safe cell therapies, regenerative strategies for cardiac repair, extracellular matrix remodeling during fibroblast phenotype switching and vascular network reformation in wound healing and quiescence in mesenchymal progenitors as a therapeutic target for liver fibrosis.
Check out this month’s top grants in regenerative medicine:
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- A bioengineering platform to promote safe cell therapies
- Regenerative strategies for cardiac repair
- Extracellular matrix remodeling during fibroblast phenotype switching and vascular network reformation in wound healing
- Quiescence in mesenchymal progenitors as a therapeutic target for liver fibrosis
A bioengineering platform to promote safe cell therapies
This research aims to enable safe and reliable large-scale production of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). Currently, in hPSC expansion pipelines, mutant cells often outgrow healthy hPSC populations, taking over the cell batch and rendering it unsafe for clinical use. To address this, researchers will employ a bioengineering approach to detect, remove, and curb the growth of mutants in culture. They will track each hPSC using cutting-edge genetic methods, providing a high-resolution view of the growth of each cell. Using computational methods, the researchers will detect mutants. They will then optimize culture parameters to restrict the proliferation of mutant cells and apply novel genetic tools to remove mutants to preserve the safety of hPSC batches.
Funding amount: US$76,000
Funding period:1 October 2022 – 30 September 2027
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Research organization:University of British Columbia (Canada)
Regenerative strategies for cardiac repair
Adult human cardiomyocytes, and adult heart cells of other mammals, hardly ever divide and thus cannot create new cells in case of damage. Neonatal mice, however, can regenerate their hearts following injury. Additionally, some organisms, including the axolotl retain robust regenerative capabilities throughout their lives, enabling the healing of gills, limbs, spinal cord, and hearts. This project will employ novel tools to investigate communication between different cardiac cell types in the axolotl. Researchers will investigate whether similar interactions occur in regenerating neonatal mice hearts and do not occur in non-regenerating adult mice hearts. These comparisons have the potential to identify novel pro-regenerative cell types or processes, which could be important for cardiac regeneration. The findings of this study could pave the way for future clinical development of therapeutics to promote cardiac healing.
Funding amount: US$448,000
Funding period: 1 October 2022 – 30 September 2026
Funder: FWF Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Research organization: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (Austria)
Extracellular matrix remodeling during fibroblast phenotype switching and vascular network reformation in wound healing
This research aims to understand the effects of microgravity on wound healing processes. In particular, it will investigate the changes in gene and protein expression in fibroblast and endothelial cells, structural changes in capillary networks during angiogenesis and extracellular matrix mechanical properties. Researchers will utilize a sensor-integrated 3D co-culture model that mimics a wound healing environment via exogenous transforming growth factor beta stimulation. The experimental tools harnessed in this project may also facilitate the development of therapeutics that target extracellular matrix remodeling and angiogenesis for functional tissue regeneration during wound healing.
Funding amount: US$225,000
Funding period:1 October 2022 – 30 September 2025
Funder: Directorate for Engineering (NSF ENG)
Research organization:Virginia Tech (USA)
Quiescence in mesenchymal progenitors as a therapeutic target for liver fibrosis
To varying extents, mesenchymal progenitors (MPs) are located in all tissues of the human body. These cells are considered to be quiescent under normal conditions. Quiescence is a defining and essential characteristic of many stem and progenitor cells and is necessary for healthy maintenance, renewal and regeneration of tissues. Following injury caused by trauma, inflammation, infection and other signals MPs exit quiescence and become activated. Activated MPs stimulate tissue regeneration and contribute to the development of healed tissue. Following this, a subset of the activated cells returns to their quiescent state. However, in some cases, activated MPs persist and contribute to fibrosis, a condition marked by the build-up of scar tissue that typically compromises organ function. Fibrosis underlies approximately 45% of chronic diseases, playing a significant role in the loss of organ function.
In this research, novel genetic models will be utilized to investigate how MPs contribute to fibrosis, with an emphasis on the development of therapeutic approaches to reduce fibrosis through modification of MP activity. Elucidating the processes which regulate MP quiescence and activation will lead to novel insights into the molecular and cellular basis of a spectrum of diseases and support the development of treatment options to improve tissue regeneration and limit fibrosis.
Funding amount: US$65,000
Funding period: 1 October 2022 – 30 September 2027
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Research organization:University of British Columbia (Canada)
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