This project seeks to investigate a novel biomanufacturing technique for producing a new class of therapeutic systems composed of a living cell combined with a man-made miniature device. Compared to the cell and the device individually, the system is expected to possess unprecedented therapeutic capabilities by integrating the non-overlapped functionalities of its two components. Successful completion of this project will prove the concept of the technique and lay a solid foundation for further developing the system into a revolutionary therapy for various human diseases. The project will also promote education and training of the next-generation workforce in biomanufacturing.
While cells play a central role in the cell-based therapies, the functionalities of the cells are limited by their biological nature. On the other hand, artificial microdevices can offer numerous functionalities radically distinct from those of the cells. These two sets of the functionalities can be integrated into a single system by forming a complex composed of a cell and a microdevice. This system holds potential to revolutionize cell-based therapies. However, current methods for generating such complexes are only applicable to cells with certain properties, or they are associated with serious toxicity issues. Moreover, cell-microdevice complexes with clinically useful functionalities have not yet been realized. The goal of this proposed research is to overcome these limitations by developing a technique that allows microdevices to harmlessly bind to all human therapeutic cells and using this technique to produce complexes with an ability to target disease-related cells. The specific aims are (1) to establish the proposed method for producing the designed cell-microdevice complexes, and (2) to characterize and optimize the cell-microdevice complexes with respect to the stability of the complexes, viability and functionalities of the cells in the complexes, and the targeting ability of the complexes. Methods developed by one of the investigators will be extended to produce the complexes. The universal binding mechanism will be based on the hydrophobic interaction between hydrocarbon chains and a cell membrane. An antibody will be grafted to the microdevices to render the cell-microdevice complexes capable of targeting cancer cells. Besides research, the investigators will carry out education and outreach activities along with the proposed research. If successful, the project will generate knowledge on the technique to generate the complexes and on the properties of the complexes. It will also lay a foundation for developing the system into a new class of cell-based therapeutics for treating various devastating diseases and traumas such as cancer and spinal cord injury. In addition, the proposed education and outreach activities will provide interdisciplinary education and research training in biomanufacturing to graduate, undergraduate, and high-school students.
