# Engineered Cardiac Tissue with Biomimetic Architecture and Vasculature

> **NIH NIH F30** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2021 · $15,482

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Ischemic heart disease accounts for approximately 42.5% of all cardiovascular-related deaths and afflicts
720,000 individuals/year. While current medical treatments have significantly decreased heart attack-
associated mortality, post-ischemic myocardial tissue undergoes pathologic remodeling and scarring,
subjecting patients to cardiac dysfunction and heart failure. As endogenous cardiac regeneration is limited,
stem cell and regenerative medicine-based approaches to cardiac repair represent promising solutions
towards regaining normal heart function. Bolstering interest in cardiovascular tissue engineering has given rise
to the development of novel biomaterials capable of maintaining cardiac cell function within a 3D tissue-like
environment, while detailed protocols have been developed to derive mature cardiomyocytes from a myriad of
stem cell sources; however, the essential ability to generate a construct that recapitulates the cellular
density and composition, thickness, and helicoid structure of the native heart has limited the therapeutic
applicability of tissue engineered constructs thus far. Utilizing photodegradable polymer-based hydrogels that
enable a spatially-defined co-culture of hES-derived cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells, we propose to
generate a densely-vascularized 3D cardiac construct exhibiting biomimetic helical tissue architecture. To
support the culture of a thick myocardial tissue and enhance mass transport of oxygen and nutrients, vessels
will be photopatterned into cell-laden hydrogels containing mature cardiomyocytes to generate perfusable
vasculature with similar size, shape, and structure to that of the native heart. Channels will be endothelialized
and perfused with fresh media using biomimetic pulsatile flow to encourage endothelial-cardiomyocyte cell
interaction. We aim to demonstrate that by controlling micron-scale channel architecture in a biomimetic
helical arrangement with near-native heart capillary density, paracrine signaling, ECM deposition, and direct
contact of endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes, we can direct cardiomyocyte orientation, enhance construct
contractility, and recapitulate the native torsional tissue contraction. As the proposed research will represent
the first successful strategy to generate perfusable vasculature networks with 3D features on the single-micron
scale, we expect that the developed methodologies will find wide applicability in the engineering of
vascularized constructs beyond cardiac tissue.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10072067
- **Project number:** 5F30HL134298-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher Kenji Arakawa
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $15,482
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-03-16 → 2021-03-16

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10072067

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10072067, Engineered Cardiac Tissue with Biomimetic Architecture and Vasculature (5F30HL134298-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10072067. Licensed CC0.

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