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175,000 ACL reconstruction surgeries are performed in the United States each year.
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, Fla. – Vipuil Kishore, associate professor of chemical engineering, has received a three-year, $450,000 National Institutes of Health grant to continue his research to develop tissue engineering-based ultra-thin facial treatments. Cruciate ligament injuries.
The grant will help advance biomedical engineering research at Florida Tech by providing research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.
Chris Bashur, associate professor of chemical engineering at Florida Tech, and Melanie Koatp, professor of medicine at the University of Central Florida, are collaborating with Kishore on this project.
ACL injuries are especially common in young athletes. Approximately 175,000 ACL reconstruction surgeries are performed in the United States each year.
ACL retraction, particularly in the area where the soft tendon meets the bone, known as the interface, is a major clinical problem.
To address this type of injury, Kishore’s lab is developing a new strategy to improve the graft’s integration with bone, using collagen and bioglass to create a continuous mineralized gradient material used at the end of an ACL graft.
“As humans, we can sense the environment and change our behavior. For example, when attending a workplace meeting, you can be considerate of the work environment and behave professionally. At the end of the day, when you come back home, you may find that the environment is different now and you change your behavior to a more relaxed one,” Kishore said.
“My lab’s working hypothesis is, ‘Can cells do the same thing?’ Can stem cells mimic the properties of the bioglass collagen matrix material at the existing ACL interface and thereby differentiate into unique cell types and help regenerate a new and mechanically strong ACL-bone interface?
The first was the development of a 4D-printing technique that mimics the native ACL interface of a magnetically aligned, continuous bioglass gradient composite collagen matrix (BiOGIM).
Second, tissue-specific multilineage stem cell differentiation on BioGim is evaluated in vitro. The third objective is to test the efficacy of 4D-printed BioGim in ACL interface reconstruction in a rabbit model.
“Bioglass gives signals to cells and helps make new bone,” Kishore said.
“Achieving tissue-specific cell differentiation through Biogym helps to regenerate the facet joint area and better integrate the tendon with the bone, so that it does not re-injury in that area.”
As native bone, tendon, and fibrocartilage form, the BioGym degrades over time, providing a means to regenerate the ACL interface. This process is estimated to take six months.
With a background in chemical engineering and a research focus in biomedical engineering, Kishore enjoys working to improve lives.
He has been working with collagen for 15 years to use his knowledge of materials and various manufacturing methods to come up with a solution to this important clinical problem.
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