The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine received up to $24.8 million in funding to develop bioprinted on-demand kidney tissues.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health award will fund five years of research, bringing partners together to develop a new tool to help patients with kidney disease. The implantable kidney tissue will be created using a patient’s own cells, combined with a bioink designed to help the cells survive and function over the long term.
“This project demonstrates how tissue engineering can be coupled with bioprinting to create a positive disruption to the health and well-being of patients by providing an inexhaustible pipeline of autologous tissues and organs,” Dr. Anthony Atala, principal investigator and Director of WFIRM, said.
The team says they are hoping to remedy organ shortage and transplantation risks in the US.
“[...] The advances from this program could dramatically reduce wait times, eliminate the need for lifelong immunosuppressive drugs, and open the door to bioprinted solutions for many other organs in the future.” PRINT Program Manager Ryan Spitler, PhD, said.
