PFI-TT: Development of artificial substrates for growth of human stem cells suitable for clinical applications

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to accelerate the potential benefit of using human pluripotent stem cells and their derivatives for treating and curing diseases. If successful, this project will allow the culture of human pluripotent stem cells in conditions that are animal-free, defined, and reproducible. This technology will have a significant impact on advancing biomedical sciences since animal-free growth conditions will prevent triggering immunological responses in transplants using cells or organs derived from the human pluripotent stem cells. In addition, the culture of the cells in defined conditions will provide a new tool needed to methodologically investigate questions related to human body development as well as disease pathology and treatment. The proposed project addresses the problem of undefined and inconsistent conditions for the in vitro growth of human pluripotent stem cells that also contain animal-derived contaminants. This project will produce a synthetic substrate that supports the growth of human pluripotent stem cells in animal-free and fully defined conditions. The research objectives of this project are to test suitable methods for the sterilization of substrates without affecting their properties. Secondly, the shelf-life of the synthetic substrate will be also determined. Third, the properties of the new substrate will be replicated using different components, and finally, other components associated with the culture of human pluripotent stem cells with the new synthetic substrate will be selectively defined. Overall, the goal is to further improve and create a prototype synthetic substrate for commercialization. This new technology, if successful, will allow biomedical scientists to further advance the knowledge and clinical use of human pluripotent stem cells. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.