AUTOBONE: Production unit for the decentralised engineering of autologous cell-based osteoinductive bone substitutes

• Research unit: EU RFP
• Project number: 03.0284-1

Key words (English)

Bone; Tissue engineering. Bioreactor; Mesenchymal progenitor cells

Alternative project number (English)

EU project number: 505711

Research programs (English)

EU-programme: 6. Frame Research Programme - 1.3 Telematic systems

Short description (English)

See abstract

Abstract (English)

Bone is the most frequently transplanted tissue and auto grafts account for the majority of bone graft procedures. However, auto grafts always require a secondary surgery adding high costs to health services, increase patient morbidity and are available in very limited quantities. Therefore, there is widespread interest around the world for programmes to rebuild and restore function of defective or injured bone tissue using artificial implant materials.
The enormous needs for bone grafts and the recent progresses in biomedical and biomaterial sciences have stimulated the rapid growth and expansion of a new field: bone tissue engineering. However, this approach presents important limits to the transfer from an academic to a routine clinical environment: high costs, difficulties in transferring biological samples between hospitals and centralized 'cell factories', and limited reproducibility due to lack of standard procedures.
By combining the progresses in the areas of cellular biology, material science and bioreactors, this project aims at transposing the concepts of tissue engineering and bone regeneration to the frontiers of new developments.
The goal of this project is to develop a bioreactor that would be set-up within the confines of a hospital and which would be used with tailor-designed 3D porous matrices combined with stem cells from harvested bone marrow aspirates to produce autologous osteoinductive graft materials approaching biological properties of autologous bone, that is yet the golden standard.
This target will be achieved through the following scientific and technical objectives:
l) design and production of innovative bioreactors '
2) design and production of novel biomaterials and 3D scaffold architectures tailored for use in the bioreactors 3) validation of the autologous osteoinductive graft material in preclinical animal studies

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: Euro-DB of the
State Secretariat for Education and Research
Hallwylstrasse 4
CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland
Tel. [phone]
Swiss Project-Number: 03.0284-1