Three MSI PIs are among the co-authors of a newly published paper that describes a 3D-printed device that could someday help repair some spinal cord injuries. A silicon guide is used as a platform for neuronal stem cells to be 3D printed on it. The guide is then implanted into a spine’s injured area, where researchers hope that it will act as a bridge between the cells above and below the injury. This might allow patients to recover some function.
The paper was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. The PIs involved in the research are:
- James Dutton (assistant professor, Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development; Stem Cell Institute). Professor Dutton is investigating how to reprogram cells to devise new treatments for injuries and diseases that currently have no good treatments. His group uses MSI for transcriptome and exome analysis.
- Michael McAlpine (associate professor, Mechanical Engineering). Professor McAlpine uses MSI for a number of projects involving 3D printing of high-performance functional devices that will interact with biology.
- Ann Parr (assistant professor, Neurosurgery; Stem Cell Institute). Professor Parr is investigating stem cell therapies for spinal cord injury and uses MSI for RNA-seq analysis and for storage of very large datasets.
An article about this research can be found on the College of Science and Engineering website: New 3D-Printed Device Could Help Treat Spinal Cord Injuries.
The paper can be found on the journal website: 3D Printed Stem-Cell Derived Neural Progenitors Generate Spinal Cord Scaffolds.