The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is in the translation of scalable three-dimensional cell culture (3DCC) technology. In 2019 the global and U.S. market sizes for 3DCC technologies were $400M and $150M, respectively, expected to grow at 15% CAGR through 2024. Recent advances in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, cancer and stem cell research are made possible through the advent of 3DCC techniques, replacing the traditional two-dimensional cell cultures. 3DCC techniques are expected to better mimic natural tissue conditions. The proposed 3D scaffolding technology offers highly customizable scaffolds with specific cell type environments, offering high yield and scalable production of biopharmaceuticals. This will impact the drug discovery market by improving the reliability of preclinical screening and reduced animal model usage. Further, this 3DCC platform innovation will accelerate the research and commercial activities in tissue engineering, cancer and stem cell markets.
This I-Corps project explores translation of improved three-dimensional cell culture (3DCC) methods. Large-scale production and isolation of cellular metabolites of pharmaceutical value, as well as rapidly growing tissue engineering applications, call for a rapid and high-yield 3DCC technique that supports the right cell phenotype with healthy cell population through a better nutrient and metabolite exchange over an extended period. Despite significant success of laboratory-scale 3DCC techniques to grow microtissues, they largely misrepresent the natural extracellular (ECM) characteristics, and lack of established high-throughput and rapid screening protocols for drug discovery are hurdles to adopt 3DCC widely in biopharmaceutical industry and research. Therefore, a better scalable 3DCC technique closely mimicking the natural ECM is urgently needed. The proposed 3D scaffolding technology enables biocompatible polymeric fibers as building blocks to recreate the cell-specific scaffold in a bottoms-up approach, mimicking the natural ECMs closely with higher cell yields. Further, these scaffolds can be optimized and scalable to specific applications.
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.
