# Engineered Anisotropic and Vascularized Human Cardiac Patch

> **NIH NIH R01** · MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $347,391

## Abstract

Engineered Anisotropic and Vascularized Human Cardiac Patch
Project Summary
 Currently there are no therapies to effectively reverse cardiac injury following myocardial infarction.
Tissue Engineering holds promise for the regeneration of heart tissue through an engineered cardiac patch.
Unfortunately, pervious efforts have failed to achieve a cardiac patch with an effective engraftment rate and
regenerative efficacy. Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac fibroblasts (hPSCs-CFs) have the potential
to provide an unlimited supply of cardiac tissue-specific extracellular matrix (ECM), which could be organized
into nanofibers and serve as a universal scaffold to direct the anisotropic orientation of cells and engineered
microvessels into a biomimetic hierarchical structure. Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are
immunomodulatory and effective in promoting myocardial regeneration, and can function as pericytes to
mature and stabilize microvessels constructed by endothelial cells. Human pluripotent stem cell-derived
cardiomyocytes (hPSCs-CMs) could orchestrate contractile synchrony between the transplanted cardiac tissue
and the underlying myocardium. We hypothesize that the combination of hPSCs-CF derived cardiac tissue-
specific ECM nanofibers with hMSCs and capillary-like microvessels will significantly enhance the anisotropic
cardiac tissue engraftment and effectively promote myocardial regeneration. The objective of the proposed
project is to biomimetically engineer an anisotropic cardiac patch containing aligned cardiac tissue-specific
nanofibrous ECM, dense and oriented capillary-like microvessels, contractile CMs, and regeneration-promoting
hMSCs within a short time. With a strong team comprising of a well-established tissue engineer, a world
leading cardiovascular physician-scientist, a very experienced cardiovascular physiologist, an expert in
electrophysiology and optical mapping, and an experienced biostatistician, we will pursue the specific aims: I.
Derive an aligned and uniform cardiac-specific nanofibrous ECM scaffold from hPSC-CFs. II. Develop an
anisotropic, vascularized and contractile cardiac patch representative of native myocardium. III. Evaluate the
anastomosis, engraftment and regeneration efficacy of the prevascualrized cardiac patch in a rat MI model.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9886725
- **Project number:** 1R01HL146652-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Feng Zhao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $347,391
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-01-01 → 2020-08-09

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9886725

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9886725, Engineered Anisotropic and Vascularized Human Cardiac Patch (1R01HL146652-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9886725. Licensed CC0.

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