NutriBone | Self-feeding implants to improve and accelerate tissue healing using nutritional nanoparticles

Summary
Keeping large (>1cm3) living tissues alive is an unresolved key challenge that hinders many clinical and industrial applications, including tissue/organ transplants, engineered tissues, drug screening models, and lab grown meat. While natural tissues within our body are continuously provided with nutrients via the blood stream, engineered, explanted, or even implanted tissues have to rely on the slow diffusion of nutrients until perfused vascularization is achieved. This commonly leads to tissue starvation, which inevitably causes tissue failure.

The NutriBone project is based on the logical yet never before explored premise that these tissues need to provide their own nutrients if the environment cannot do so. This is an innovative concept named self-feeding. We have surprisingly discovered that glycogen offers cell-driven long-term release of physiologically relevant quantities of glucose enabling long-term implant survival, accelerated tissue formation, reduced inflammation and immune responses, and improved vascularization. As this approach is a first-of-its-kind, we have patented it and here propose its valorisation.

We propose to develop a marketable self-feeding bone implant to address the current clinical challenge of critically sized bone defects. Although our technology is relevant for many clinical applications, we will focus on large bone defects. Bone is the second most implanted tissue but implant failure remains high, leading to high medical cost and low quality of life for patients. Moreover, bone implants represent the largest, and still fast growing market for engineered tissues, while awaiting a solution to maintain implant viability. Thus, we can foresee a concrete path-to-market. To this end, we will perform product development towards a minimum viable product, establishing a roadmap for certification, and market research as well business plan development to ensure a good product-market fit including a market entry and exit strategy.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101189355
Start date: 01-12-2024
End date: 31-05-2026
Total budget - Public funding: - 150 000,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Keeping large (>1cm3) living tissues alive is an unresolved key challenge that hinders many clinical and industrial applications, including tissue/organ transplants, engineered tissues, drug screening models, and lab grown meat. While natural tissues within our body are continuously provided with nutrients via the blood stream, engineered, explanted, or even implanted tissues have to rely on the slow diffusion of nutrients until perfused vascularization is achieved. This commonly leads to tissue starvation, which inevitably causes tissue failure.

The NutriBone project is based on the logical yet never before explored premise that these tissues need to provide their own nutrients if the environment cannot do so. This is an innovative concept named self-feeding. We have surprisingly discovered that glycogen offers cell-driven long-term release of physiologically relevant quantities of glucose enabling long-term implant survival, accelerated tissue formation, reduced inflammation and immune responses, and improved vascularization. As this approach is a first-of-its-kind, we have patented it and here propose its valorisation.

We propose to develop a marketable self-feeding bone implant to address the current clinical challenge of critically sized bone defects. Although our technology is relevant for many clinical applications, we will focus on large bone defects. Bone is the second most implanted tissue but implant failure remains high, leading to high medical cost and low quality of life for patients. Moreover, bone implants represent the largest, and still fast growing market for engineered tissues, while awaiting a solution to maintain implant viability. Thus, we can foresee a concrete path-to-market. To this end, we will perform product development towards a minimum viable product, establishing a roadmap for certification, and market research as well business plan development to ensure a good product-market fit including a market entry and exit strategy.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

ERC-2024-POC

Update Date

24-11-2024
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.1 Excellent Science
HORIZON.1.1 European Research Council (ERC)
HORIZON.1.1.1 Frontier science
ERC-2024-POC ERC PROOF OF CONCEPT GRANTS