3D Bioprinting of immunocompetent skin equivalents for wound healing project

Chronic wounds are a significant global problem, causing patient morbidity and a substantial financial burden on health services worldwide. The incidence of chronic wounds is currently rising because those populations most susceptible, the elderly and diabetic, are rapidly expanding1. In 2018, the annual NHS spend on wound care was estimated at £8.3 billion2, while in the U.S. an estimated US$25 billion is spent on their treatment3.

Approximately 40-60% of chronic wounds do not heal within 3 months and require more advanced wound therapies such as collagen-based dressings to regulate excess inflammation4. Currently, the development of such therapies is reliant on the use of 2D/3D organotypic models that fail to replicate the complex structural and functional organization of native skin, leading to poor research and clinical outcomes. Animal models, including porcine and mice, are often used as an alternative/complementary system to simplistic 2D/3D cell culture models, but present several drawbacks: 1) expensive; 2) limited chronic wound models (porcine); 3) limited physiological relevance to human conditions (mice)5.

Operating in a layer-by-layer fashion, 3D Bioprinting allows for the precise spatial deposition of cells and materials into 3D constructs, thus opening new opportunities for the development of biomimetic tissue equivalents. Here we aim to combine our expertise in advanced materials, biofabrication and bioreactors to develop a physiologically relevant 3D skin model. The successful candidate will build on existing models and establish new strategies for the generation of stratified, multicellular (e.g. fibroblasts, keratinocytes) and immunocompetent surrogates, to interrogate pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning skin repair.

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.