# TOWARDS ELECTRICALLY ENRICHED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS FOR TREATMENT OF EARLY INFLAMMATORY OSTEOARTHRITIS

> **NIH NIH R03** · RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE · 2020 · $81,000

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disabling, degenerative disease that involves every tissue in the joint. The inflammatory
environment surrounding these tissues is believed to fundamentally underlie OA pathogenesis and may
therefore hold a key to treatment. One prominent end result of this dysregulated inflammatory state is long-
term, progressive cartilage tissue degradation. Effective disease modifying treatments that can intervene in this
degradative cascade are not currently available. Human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) injections are
emerging as a potential disease modifying treatment for OA due to their multi-faceted immunomodulatory
properties. However, hMSC injections suffer from substantial variability in efficacy which can be attributed in
part to the inherent complexity of using cells which contain significant population heterogeneity/cell states with
varying levels of senescence. We therefore propose: 1) to develop a therapy based on hMSCs enriched for
electrical properties associated with superior stemness and immunomodulatory/regenerative capacity and 2) to
assess the therapeutic potential of these electrically enriched hMSCs using an in vitro model of early
inflammatory OA. We envision that electrical enrichment can be implemented as a novel component of hMSC
therapy for combating inflammation and promoting regeneration in OA.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9971444
- **Project number:** 5R03AG064550-02
- **Recipient organization:** RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** Mariah S Hahn
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $81,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-15 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9971444

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9971444, TOWARDS ELECTRICALLY ENRICHED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS FOR TREATMENT OF EARLY INFLAMMATORY OSTEOARTHRITIS (5R03AG064550-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9971444. Licensed CC0.

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