The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the use of decellularized plant leaves to culture various tissue types in 3D environments. The proposed research has potential to assist researchers with 3D tissue pathology studies and the development of grafts for conditions such as cardiovascular disease and muscle loss. In addition, the proposed research has potential to develop structured meat products that are environmentally sustainable and are produced without use of animal slaughter or antibiotics. These structured meat products can include beef, chicken, pork, or any other type of meat. Their potential applications lie in the fields of animal feed and pet food, consumer meat products, space exploration, and meal ready to eats (MREs) for combat soldiers.
This I-Corps project is based on the development of 3D tissue culture scaffolds to address one of the major limitations in current tissue engineering research: the inability to create vascular networks capable of delivering oxygen throughout engineered tissue. Without proper vascularization, maximum viable tissue thickness is only 100–200 microns. This distance is known as the oxygen diffusion limit and restricts how far cells can survive from a main oxygen source. Current solutions to creating vascular networks have shown only limited success. This research proposes decellularization of common plants such as spinach as a method to develop scaffolds for 3D tissue culture applications. The process of decellularizing plant leaves involves the use of detergents available on the GRAS materials list including sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), bleach, tween (polysorbate) 20, water, and tris buffer. The decellularization process removes all cellular and plant material from the leaf, leaving behind a clear, cellulose backbone. Cellulose has been demonstrated to be a biocompatible material capable of cell adhesion. Decellularized plant scaffolds are not only cheaper than conventional decellularized animal-derived and synthetic alternatives, but are edible, easily accessible, familiar to consumers, and easily produced.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
