# Novel pro-healing scaffolds for cell therapies

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $486,688

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Strategies to promote wound healing and support engraftment of cell transplants may ultimately lead to
effective treatments for many degenerative diseases. Yet, to date control over insufficient or pathologic
revascularization of transplants, damaging inflammation, and/or dysregulated tissue differentiation remains
difficult to achieve solely by pharmacologic treatments. The transplant microenvironment by its own imparts
many constrains, i.e. cell transplants may need to adapt to sites of implantation that not always recapitulate the
cellular composition, molecular and/or physical properties of the organ of origin, all factors impacting on grafts
long-term survival and function. The rapid progress in tissue engineering technologies capable of reconstituting
structural and molecular cues mimicking native tissue microenvironments offers new opportunities to overcome
these limitations.
 In this multi-investigator project, we integrate complementary areas of expertise on vascular biology,
cellular immunology, pancreatic tissue and stem cell biology, as well as bioengineering of novel biomaterials to
address a) pro-repair functions of novel biochemical cues (Slit-2 and Netrins) that we have identified in the
developing pancreas as critical regulators of endocrine differentiation and modulators of vasculogenic/immune
activities, and b) the functional impact of recapitulating in injury settings mechanical cues that we have
measured in the developing and adult human pancreas. To implement these studies we will adopt an
innovative bioengineering approach that allow for spatial patterning and temporal modulation of Slit and Netrin
proteins in vascular networks and extra-vascular spaces, as well as for pharmacologic control of tissue
stiffness. Based on preliminary studies supporting feasibility, we plan to dissect repair mechanisms dependent
on these biochemical and physical cues, and ultimately their impact on endocrine responses to metabolic
changes as read-out of grafts function. We will focus on the following aims:
Aim 1: To investigate the impact of Slit-2 engineered in PEG-based scaffolds on the revascularization and
 immunomodulation of tissue grafts.
Aim 2: To assess the effects of Netrin-functionalized scaffolds on the differentiation and function of immature
 tissue progenitors.
Aim 3: To address the impact of tuning the mechanical properties of support scaffolds on tissue progenitors
 growth, differentiation and functional maturation.
 Collectively, results from this collaborative project will establish the ground-work for the development and
production of a new generation of clinically-relevant scaffolds that will be relevant to a wide range of medical
conditions requiring cell replacement therapies and/or tissue regeneration.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9894167
- **Project number:** 1R01GM128092-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** VINCENZINO CIRULLI
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $486,688
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-05-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9894167

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9894167, Novel pro-healing scaffolds for cell therapies (1R01GM128092-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9894167. Licensed CC0.

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