# Muscle progenitor cell-based implants for dynamic laryngeal muscle reconstruction

> **NIH NIH R01** · INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS · 2024 · $543,115

## Abstract

Project Summary
Devastating voice loss (dysphonia or aphonia) impacts thousands of individuals in the United
States each year undergoing traumatic or oncologic partial laryngectomies, or suffering muscle
volume loss due to vocal fold paralysis. Voice restoration options for these patients are
suboptimal, and, as a result, most patients are left with permanent voice loss and communication
impairment. This application introduces a novel approach for restoring vocal fold muscle volume
and function after direct vocal fold injury and/or denervation. Results may lead to improved
surgical options for voice restoration in patients who have vocal paralysis and/or have undergone
hemilaryngectomies, cordectomies, or traumatic avulsions. The first goal of this application is to
engineer an autologous muscle-cartilage implant progenitor cell-derived implant (MI) that, after
implantation in an animal model, receives strong innervation and becomes functional when used
to repair a large laryngeal defect. To do this, we will fabricate MIs within a customized collagen
matrix and pre-treat MIs with factors in vitro that induce the MI muscle to express motor
endplates. The MIs will be used to replace a partial laryngectomy defect in a porcine model, and
post-implantation innervation status, based on laryngeal electromyography and quantification of
motor endplates with nerve contact, will be determined. Using this animal implant model,
outcomes with the study MIs will be compared to those of control MIs in environments with and
without recurrent laryngeal nerve integrity. Findings from the proposed studies should overcome
current major hurdles to developing a functional tissue engineered MCC for hemilaryngeal
reconstruction—those hurdles being inadequate cartilaginous support, poor innervation of the
muscle, suboptimal organization of myofibers, and asynchronous firing of the muscle with the
native adductor muscle. Furthermore, because these studies are being done now in a large
animal (porcine) model, with laryngeal size and function very similar to that of humans, findings
will be highly translational. Results from these experiments should lead to landmark clinical
innovations that will be relevant to both voice restoration applications, and muscle repair
concepts globally.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10874741
- **Project number:** 5R01DC014070-10
- **Recipient organization:** INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS
- **Principal Investigator:** Stacey L. Halum
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $543,115
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2015-07-15 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10874741

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10874741, Muscle progenitor cell-based implants for dynamic laryngeal muscle reconstruction (5R01DC014070-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10874741. Licensed CC0.

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