Vera Citro

PhD student

Nano-delivery to enhance stem-cell/synthetic hybrid-based tendon regeneration protocol

 

Supervisors: Prof. Nicholas Forsyth (Keele University, UK) (main supervisor) and Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini (FAU)

This project belongs to the Horizon 2020 “Perspectives for Future Innovation in Tendon Repair” (P4 FIT) European Joint Doctorate consortium (EU H2020-MCSA-ITN-EJD-2020).
In tendon biology, considerable progress has been made in identifying tendon-specific genes. However, besides tendon function and the knowledge of a small number of important players in tendon biology, neither the ontogeny of the tenogenic lineage nor signalling cascades have been fully understood. For this reason, it is important to define which are the main actors in the differentiation process of hMSC into tenocyte.
This project will develop a growth factors nano-delivery technique to enhance stem cell /synthetic hybrid-based tendon regeneration.
The aim of the project is to define the best system in which the signal power and its presentation cooperate at the same time to have a specific cell response. The transcriptional differentiation will be supported by composite fibres able to improve the synaptic effect related to cells ability to sense each other. The final goal is to obtain a three-dimensional system capable to reproduce the native environment of a tendon, stimulating the cells from both the chemical and mechanical point of view.