New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) scientists have developed a bone engineering technique, Segmental Additive Tissue Engineering (SATE).
This technique allows researchers to create large scale, personalized grafts combining segments of bone engineered from stem cells.
It will also enhance treatment for people who suffer from bone disease on injury through regenerative medicine.
SATE will be capable to improve the lives of the millions of people suffering from bone injury due to trauma, cancer, osteoporosis, osteonecrosis, and other devastating conditions.
SATE helps patients to return to normal life by leveraging the power of regenerative medicine.
This treatment often causes immune rejection due to disconnection of a tissue or a vasculature which needed for functional bone. Sometimes the treated bone may be overgrown or grown out of order in pediatric patients.
Bone graft generated from stem cells of the patient may overcome such problems, but it is difficult to bioengineer these to form a perfect shape needed for treatment.
The team researched on the femur of a rabbit that affected 30 per cent of the bone’s total volume.
They first scanned the femur to assess the size and shape of the defect and generated a model of the graft. Then, partitioned the model into smaller segments and created customized scaffolds for each.
The team then placed these scaffolds, fitted with human induced Pluripotent stem cell-derived mesodermal progenitor cells, into a bioreactor specially designed to accommodate bone grafts with a broad range of sizes.
This bioreactor was able to ensure uniform development of tissue throughout the graft, something that existing versions of bioreactors often struggle to do.
The segments of the bone graft could then be combined into a single, mechanically stable graft using biocompatible bone adhesives or other orthopedic devices, once the cells integrated and grown within the scaffold.
SATE is standardised, versatile, and easy to implement, allowing for bioengineered bone grafts to more quickly make the leap from bench to bedside.