SBIR Phase I: Bioprinted Prevascularized Adipose Graft for Soft Tissue Voids

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes a new tissue engineered vascularized adipose graft product for reconstructive surgery. Of the approximately one million new breast cancer cases worldwide, many patients choose mastectomy due to a lack of viable reconstructive options. The long-term objective of this research is to build an autologous tissue structure that can integrate more naturally with the patient than conventional products. The proposed research will use a new bioprinting technology to create capillary channels that are hypothesized to anastomose with host tissue quickly, thereby allowing lab-grown tissues to survive once transplanted to the patient. The research team will build constructs, determine optimal parameters for printing tissue, and measure feasibility of anastomosis with mouse models. The results will help the development of design rules for bioprinted capillaries with respect to rapid anastomoses to the host. From here a decision can be made to move forward with testing pre-vascularized grafts in larger animals. The results of this study are expected to impact several current treatment regimes, such as autologous fat grafting for breast reconstruction following lumpectomy, affecting approximately 110,000 people in the US annually. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will improve the quality of life for people suffering from deformity due to cancer tumor removal, congenital defects and traumatic injuries. Patients with asymmetry following lumpectomy treatment for breast cancer are more likely to believe the cancer will reoccur and to be depressed; it is estimated that 25-30% of breast cancer patients are dissatisfied with the outcome of a lumpectomy and few reconstructive options exist for lumpectomies. The methods presented herein, if successful, should solve this problem, allowing a more natural solution utilizing the patient's own cells with a theoretically excellent prognosis. The field of Tissue Engineering is currently limited to small, thin constructs due to inadequate nutrient profusion (i. e., Vasculature). Further development of the bioprinting process and the reassembling of cells in vitro to construct vascularized tissue analogs will generate new methods and results in the fields of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. The results of this research will help the field move towards larger, clinically relevant tissues and potentially whole organs. The commercial impacts of this research will be the availability of an autologous option for women in the lucrative $10B (US) market for breast augmentation.