3D-BIOSAME- A 3D BIOprinted SpinAl cord Model to reach functional meaningful and clinically translatable rEgeneration

3D-BIOSAME- A 3D BIOprinted SpinAl cord Model to reach functional meaningful and clinically translatable rEgeneration

Duration: 28 Sep 2023 – 27 Sep 2025 (2 years)

Principal Investigator: Chiara Tonda Turo (Politecnico di Torino)

Contact person in IPCF: F. Aiello

Other research units (contact person): University of Turin (Marina Maria Boido), University of Padova (Michela Rigoni)

ERC Sector: PE8_13 Industrial bioengineering

Keywords: 3D-bioprinting; in vitro models; spinal cord injuries

3D-BIOSAME project will develop physiological in vitro platforms expected to improve our current capabilities to boost the biological machinery that triggers regeneration in the injured spinal cord (SC) of mammals, in a therapeutic perspective. Studies in vivo provide important step-forwards, as an important approach for translational research, although showing several limitations. The in vitro platforms represent an alternative strategy. Not only do they reduce ethical and cost concerns, they also have the potential for patient-specific customization. Thus, in vitro platforms offer the unique potential to combine the features of the experimental system-model with the biological properties of tissues and organs, achieving the final goal of recapitulating the complex human physiology in vitro. At present, a full exploitation of this technology in neural regeneration is far from being achieved, and methods to produce a physiologically-relevant SC model are missing. The complexity of the mammalian SC structure and its heterogeneous composition hamper research efforts towards the development of in vitro SC recapitulating the key features of the in vivo mammalian context. 3D-BIOSAME aims to realize for the first time a 3D bioprinted SC model combining sensory, cortical and motor neurons with the glia counterpart in an in vivo-like framework.