A scaffold is an artificial matrix that mimics the natural environment around cells in the body. This three-dimensional scaffold must deliver important signals to cells to induce their proliferation and differentiation into specific tissues and organs.
"We want to jump start the cells into the regenerative process by giving them initial cues through the scaffold," said Stupp, who is Board of Trustees Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry and Medicine. "Once the cells are on the right track to regenerate tissue or an organ, the artificial matrix can be programmed to disappear into nutrients as cells elaborate into a natural matrix."
The scaffolds are being designed at the nanoscale or the microscale, which enables scientists to create smart objects for cell signaling that can reach small spaces in the body. (A nanometer is roughly 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.) Equally important is developing a practical technology to deliver chemically these scaffolds to the appropriate location in a patient. In earlier work, Stupp has already demonstrated the promise of using molecular self-assembly as a delivery method. The idea is to inject into a patient a mix of molecules that will assemble intelligently into a scaffold which, together with cells and growth factors, will promote tissue or organ regeneration. (The injected molecular mix gels in the body to form a functional scaffold in which cells can grow.)
"While we hope some day to reverse paralysis by repairing damage to the central nervous system and to cure diabetes, the multiple scaff
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Contact: Megan Fellman
fellman@northwestern.edu
847-491-3115
Northwestern University
20-Oct-2004