# Enhancing the potency of mesenchymal stem cell therapies for kidney diseases using lab-on-a-particle technology

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $185,208

## Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a promising treatment modality for a multitude of otherwise
intractable diseases, largely due to their production of paracrine factors which modulate
inflammation, promote angiogenesis, and inhibit apoptosis. MSC-based therapies are being
explored for the treatment of numerous kidney and urological diseases including urinary
incontinence, lupus nephritis, and acute kidney injury transitioning to chronic kidney disease.
Unfortunately, disparate results in translational studies have hindered the progression of most
MSC therapies past early stage clinical trials. Perhaps the greatest barrier to translation is the
inherent heterogeneity in secretory function of MSCs, which has been shown to vary based on
both the initial tissue source and conditions used for cell expansion. Currently, MSCs are
identified through surface proteins which correlate to cell stemness but are disconnected from
their therapeutically important secretory functions, further exacerbating differences in clinical
translation. Technologies enriching our understanding of the direct relation between stem cell
secretory function and regenerative potential will prove crucial for the standardization of existing
treatments and engineering more effective cell therapies for these chronic and devastating
diseases. While functional profiling approaches for therapeutic potency are gradually being
integrated into MSC development pipelines, there are currently no technologies capable of rapidly
detecting and enriching individual MSC clones based on therapeutically important secreted
factors. We propose the development of a novel lab on a particle platform, which allows the rapid
isolation of individual MSCs into hydrogel microparticles with a structured cavity that provides a
solid substrate for cell adhesion and a template for uniform microdroplet formation. This approach
will enable profiling of both cell surface and secreted proteins simultaneously, and allow recovery
of desired clones using standard fluorescence-activated cell sorters (FACS). We will evaluate the
clones selected based on secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor and characterize their
function in vitro assays relevant to tissue regeneration relevant to acute kidney injury to chronic
kidney disease transition. Our new technology promises to remove this significant barrier in
functional stem cell selection to drive the next-generation of MSC therapies for kidney and
urologic diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10373803
- **Project number:** 1R21DK128730-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Dino Di Carlo
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $185,208
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-21 → 2023-01-20

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10373803

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10373803, Enhancing the potency of mesenchymal stem cell therapies for kidney diseases using lab-on-a-particle technology (1R21DK128730-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10373803. Licensed CC0.

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