| 研究実績の概要 |
Organ transplantation has saved many patients’ lives. However, the transplantation of organs including the kidney, heart, and liver heavily rely on organ donations. In recent years, the rapid development of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine has shown great potential in the culturing of tissue constructs to repair or replace damaged native tissues, with the aim to ultimately replace the need for organ transplantation. Demonstrated successful cases include the development of artificial skin to treat burn patients, and bladders grown from a patients’ own cells. However, engineering complex and thick tissues such as kidney and liver has lagged behind. One of major obstacles is the challenge of fabricating vascular networks to deliver oxygen and nutrients throughout the tissues, which is critical as cells cannot survive without residing in the range of couple of hundred micrometers from the capillary network.
The purpose of this research project is to couple the 3D biofabrication techniques with the electrochemical cell detachment approach and provide an exciting opportunity for the development of novel and effective approaches for the development of scaffolds for tissue repair and regeneration.
In the first year, we have setup an bioprinter and synthesized a new photocrosslinkable bioink. The bioink was prepared by conjugating acrylate functional groups with gelatin, which showed promising features such as fast crosslinking, robust hydrogel formation, and cytocompatibility.
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| 現在までの達成度 (区分) |
現在までの達成度 (区分)
2: おおむね順調に進展している
理由
As described in the proposal, two subjects, Development and optimisation of materials and “bio-ink” formulations for 3D biofabrication and Development of 3D fabrication protocols for tissue engineering, have been done successfully. No significant issue and trouble remains.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
Our next step is to fabricate and evaluate cellular functions for tissue regeneration. Cells will be incorporated and cultured within the fabricated scaffolds to provide specific tissue development and functions for specific applications. The proliferation and differentiation of cells within the scaffold, as well as tissue development, will be characterized using fluorescence (confocal laser scanning microscopy) and electron microscopy (transmission electron microscopy) techniques.
This proposed project is expected to further advance the research being conducted in the two institutions, in particular the development in fabrication of thick tissue constructs resembling the function and incorporation of vascular network of complex organ tissues. The outcomes of this project will present in forms of high quality publications in peer reviewed scientific journal, as well as presentations at international conferences. This research project will strengthen the research collaboration between Yokohama National University, and Intelligent Polymer Research Institute at University of Wollongong, which is also a node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science. It is the prospect of both institutions that the successful outcome of this fellowship will stimulate the research visits of postdocs and students, which will in turn consolidate the long term collaboration between Australia and Japan.
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