Invention

Cornell researchers developed a template for a tissue engineered construct with an inherent three-dimensional vascular network. It is hoped that the vascularized tissue construct can be anastomosed to the host tissue’s vessels using standard surgical techniques, enabling it to be immediately and automatically revascularized to assure the survival of the cellular constituents within. Cell culturing experiments are expected to further verify the broad impact of this novel technique on reconstructive surgery and wound healing treatments.

Existing therapeutic strategies rely upon the ability of the host to revascularize the implantation. Unfortunately the approach is highly fallible since cells further from the surface are prone to cell death due to paucity of oxygen and nutrients. Cornell’s new tissue construct template promises to overcome this problem.

Prototypes have already been fabricated. To test connectivity, the construct templates were filled with blood from one of the larger channels. The microchannels and the other larger channels were immediately observed to fill with blood. Motion of larger particles within the system was also tested using fluorospheres.

The construct template is made using a new technique which utilizes sacrificial water-soluble structures to define a three-dimensional vascular architecture of arteries and veins connected by capillaries in an elastic medium. This novel approach uses melt-spun sugar fibers to define a network of capillary sized channels and extruded sugar sticks to define larger channels connected to the sugar fiber network. Next step projects are directed to harvesting endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from donors and infusing them into the vascular network, which will then be connected to a bioreactor to allow the EPCs to endothelialize the network.

• Reconstructive surgery

• Assures survival of cellular constituents of transplant
• Does not require transfer of tissues from the patient or another donor
• Transplantation is achieved with standard surgical techniques
• Provides personalized reconstructive surgery in which the vascular network is tailored specifically to the topography of the wound site

Additional Information (publications, web sites, and patent links)

• Bellan L. M., Singh S. P., Henderson P. W., Porri T. J., Craighead H. G., Spector J. A. (February 2009). Fabrication of an artificial 3-dimensional vascular network using sacrificial sugar structures. SOFT MATTER (2009).

Innovators & Portfolio

• Harold Craighead | Web Site | more technologies from Harold Craighead
• Leon Bellan | more technologies from Leon Bellan
• Jason Spector | more technologies from Jason Spector

Licensing Contact

Martin Teschl, Technology Commercialization & Liaison Officer
mt439@cornell.edu
(607) 254-4454