New Functionally-Graded Biohybrid Vascular Graft

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this Phase I STTR proposal, our RandD goal is the development and evaluation of a novel functionally-graded biohybrid vascular graft for small diameter (lt6 mm) coronary bypass applications. Tissue engineered vascular constructs developed to date have mostly utilized synthetic and animal- derived biomaterials and require pre-seeding of host cells before implantation to overcome the complications of prosthetic vascular grafts. However, these graft systems exhibit manylimitations including poor cellular adhesion, inadequate biomechanical and functional properties. The PI has recently demonstrated an in vitro regenerated human endothelium on functionally-layered polymeric scaffolds containing bioactive proteins. Moreover, VBI has developed a unique human biomatrix (HuBiogel) that allows viable tissue constructs by cultivating single or multiple cell types. HuBiogel milieu can also be controlled via enrichment with specific growth factors (VEGF). We now propose to combin