Cartilage tissue engineering of organized cellular constructs
1 Dept of Orthopaedics, University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands
2 Dept of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Otago Christchurch, New Zealand
Dr Tim Woodfield (2), Dr Debby Gawlitta (1) & Dr Jos Malda (1)
Mature cartilage does not heal once it is damaged. Cartilage defects lead to early osteoarthrosis. Current treatment options have varying results and are not yet the ultimate solution to the problem. Regenerative Medicine, the science of teaching the body to heal itself, could bring a successful treatment closer.
In a collaborative effort, the UMC Utrecht and University of Otago Christchurch (New Zealand) are developing approaches to develop implants that contain cells from different cartilage zones that resemble the organization in natural cartilage in the body. Therefore, pre-differentiated cell aggregates or pellets will be placed in organized carrier materials (“scaffolds”) (Figure 1A). Using such high density cell aggregates, enhanced cartilage formation has been observed in our laboratory (Figure 1B, 1C)
Fig 1 – (A) Designed “3D printed” scaffold containing pre-cultured high-density cell aggregates. Enhanced cartilage formation (stained purple) in aggregates seeded (B) vs single cell seeded control (C)
We are seeking a student (>20 weeks) that will be given the opportunity to work in the orthopaedic research groups within the University Medical Centre Utrecht (NL) and the University of Otago Christchurch (NZ).
The project will focus on:
• Development of zonal aggregate seeded constructs.
- This will include production of scaffolds, cell isolation and culture as well as the evaluation of cultured constructs using an array of biochemical and (immuno-) histochemical techniques
• Automated positioning of the aggregates within the scaffolds
- Computer-guided placement of cellular aggregates using a “bioprinter” (BioScaffolder, www.syseng.de).
For further information please contact:
Dr. Jos Malda
Dept of Orthopaedics
UMC Utrecht
088 7558078
j.malda@umcutrecht.nl
