Injectable microtissues for vascular tissue regeneration

This technology is an engineered, injectable microtissue system consisting of endothelial cells that are able to self-organize into blood-vessel units for potential treatment of vascular injury.

Unmet Need: Nontoxic and scalable system for vascularized tissue engineering

Vascularization and injectability are critical challenges in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and most current methods lack scalability and impede cell viability. To engineer anatomically-sized tissues, a functional vascular network needs to overcome the limitations of diffusion-based nutrient transport. However, existing methods for vascular regeneration, which include culturing layered cell sheets or relying on in vivo blood vessel invasion into an implant, are complex and time intensive.

The Technology: Simple, injectable, pre-vascularized microtissues for vascular tissue regeneration

This technology describes a high-throughput method to generate self-organizing microtissues that serve as blood vessel building blocks and can be implanted by injection. Self-organization of cells in spheroid culture is directed by timed exposure to specific growth factors. Through the release of dissolvable microwell templates, these injectable microtissues provide a native-like microenvironment for cells to be delivered. The strategy, which enables harvesting of microtissues with control over size and composition, can connect with existing vasculature after implantation to quickly form a functional vascular network. This technology holds great promise for tissue engineering applications and may also potentially be used to treat peripheral arterial diseases such as critical limb ischemia.

This technology has been validated in an in vivo mouse model of peripheral artery disease.

Applications:

• Method for producing pre-vascularized engineered tissues for therapeutic purposes
• Injectable treatment for vascular pathologies including critical limb ischemia and peripheral arterial diseases
• Use as an in vitro biological tissue model

Advantages:

• Injectable
• Scalable, high-throughput system
• Utilizes dissolvable microwell templates
• Allows for size and composition control
• Can be maintained for long-term culture
• Offers reliable control over the size distribution
• Extendable to many cell types, including mesenchymal stem cells

Lead Inventor:

Samuel K. Sia, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Status

Related Publications:

• Rossen NS, Anandakumaran PN, Nieden RZ, Lo K, Luo W, Park C, Huyan C, Fu Q, Song Z, Singh-Moon R, Chung J, Goldenberg JE, Sampat N, Harimoto T, Bajakian DR, Gillette BM, Sia SK. “Injectable therapeutic organoids using sacrificial hydrogels” iScience. 2020 May 22; 23(5): 101052.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU15128

• Licensing Contact: Beth Kauderer