Using the extensive biobank of human induced pluripotent stem cells (n > 250) housed within the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine Biotrust, our goal is to develop a technical platform for the screening of novel drugs as well as drug libraries. By capitalizing on this extensive, stem cell-based resource, we aim to develop novel therapeutic options for Minnesota's patient population.

This grant will fund the development of a fully-automated, computer-controlled drive system that will provide pulsatile flow to a large number of bioreactor chambers. The dynamic flow generated by this drive system can be used for cardiovascular regenerative medicine applications (primary goal) but can easily be adapted for orthopaedic or other engineered tissue applications that require oscillatory flow. This project will close the following gaps by: 

The project aims at developing a bioreactor system for tissue engineered vascular grafts for pediatric regenerative applications. The specialized bioreactor design will meet GMP manufacturing regulatory requirement and will be utilized for manufacturing of vascular grafts for FDA submission and eventual clinical use.

The purpose of this project is to develop means for delivering cells and nutrients to the airways of regenerative lung tissue. A novel aerosolizing catheter (developed for intra-tracheal drug delivery) will be adapted to an existing whole-lung bioreactor. By the end of this one-year project, we expect to have a device capable of coating the walls of the trachea and the two bronchi with cells, nutrients and other agents, as needed for successfully growing the regenerative lung tissue.