3D bioprinting of tissue engineered meniscal constructs

Over 1.5 million people across the USA and Europe suffer from injuries to the knee meniscus which can significantly reduce their mobility and quality of life. The most common treatment for this type of lesion encompasses the partial or total surgical removal of the affected tissue (meniscectomy). Whilst this procedure is able to provide short term pain relief and restore temporary knee function, the biomechanical instability caused by the loss of tissue becomes irreversible and frequently results in osteoarthritis. A promising alternative relies on the combination of tissue engineered constructs (scaffolds) with patient-derived cells and growth factors to support and stimulate the regeneration process of the tissue. However, most strategies developed so far have failed to generate constructs capable of mimicking both the structural as well as functional organization of the native meniscus whilst promoting the deposition of new ECM. This project aims at the development of truly biomimetic meniscus substitutes through the integration of imaging technology, 3D bioprinting, advanced biomaterials and stem cells. Laser scanning techniques will be employed to acquire meniscus geometrical information and used to print patient customized implants. Novel Poly(ester urea) materials with tuneable physical and chemical properties will be synthetized and used for the printing of 3D templates with zonal organization (i.e outer meniscus and inner meniscus). Encapsulation and controlled release (i.e. temporal and spatial) of fibrocartilaginous growth factors will be explored to further enhance the zonal functionality of the meniscus by promoting the differentiation of stem cells into either chondrogenic or fibroblastic lineages.

There are numerous beneficiaries of this Advanced Biomedical Materials CDT. Firstly and of short term impact are the PhD students themselves. They will receive extensive research specific and professional/transferable skills training throughout the 4 years of the programme. They will have access to state of the art facilties and world leading academics, industry and clinicians. The training and potential placements are designed to maximise the impact of their research in terms of dissemination and movement of their research along the translation pathway.

Longer term benefits are that this distinct cohort will become the future UK Biomedical Materials leaders and be able to use their bespoke training and network within the cohort to collaborate on future worldwide funding opportunities and drive UK research in this area.

UK and international academics will benefit as they will gain the next generation of highly skilled postdoctoral researchers with knowledge and expertise not only in their specific research area but of industry, regulatory and clinical aspects.

UK and international industry will benefit - in the short term they will gain academic based research to further develop products and in the longer term have a pool of highly skilled graduates.

Clinicians will benefit from collaborative research and also the development of new and novel products to enhance the treatment of a variety of trauma and disease based needs from biomaterials.

The public will benefit as end users as patients that will have their quality of life improved from the products developed in the CDT and will be educated in novel technologies and materials to repair the human body. The UK economy will benefit from the reduced healthcare costs associated with the new and improved medical products developed in this CDT and subsequently from the trained graduates. The UK economy will also benefit from the increased revenue from medical sales products from the UK industrial partners we will be working with.

The impact of this CDT will be realised by direct academic, clinical and industrial engagement with the students allowing efficient and state of the at training and fast translation of developing products. Students will also be trained in knowledge exchange and will use these skills to disseminate their research to, and liaise with, the key stakeholders - the academic, industrial, clinical and public sectors. We will ensure widening participation routes are addressed in this CDT in order to include equality and diversity not only in our initial CDT student cohort but in future researcher generations to come.