I-Corps: Biodegradable Regenerative Spinal Implants

Award ID: 2319774

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to improve treatment and outcomes of spinal cord injury. Annually, approximately 18,000 people in the United States and between 250,000 to 500,000 people globally suffer a spinal cord injury not only as a result of traumatic injuries but also from vascular damage and infections. Depending upon the degree of severity, spinal cord injury patients face lengthy, if not permanent disabilities, often with lifetime medical costs exceeding million dollars. Currently, there are no curative treatment for spinal cord injury while extensive and expensive rehabilitative therapy is the only option for many patients. Advances in surgical interventions have progressed beyond classic decompression and stabilization to grafts which can provide limited improvements in nerve regeneration, but new experimental approaches can be technically challenging and costly while recovery times can remain painfully long. The proposed technology aims to reduce the cost and complexities of neural repair surgery by offering a simple to use and readily available tissue scaffold, while improving long term outcomes by promoting neuronal regrowth. This I-Corps project is based on the development of biodegradable bioactive materials for tissue regeneration, controlled drug delivery, stem cell therapies, medical implants and devices. Nerve injuries are among the most difficult injuries to heal because under normal physiological conditions, mature neurons do not undergo cell division. Tissue grafts are the standard of care for surgical intervention in nerve injuries, however limitations on donor availability, as well as tissue mismatches and damage to the graft site represent serious drawbacks to these procedures. Alternatively, synthetic nerve guidance conduit or channel devices made from different materials have been approved for clinical use, but such devices fail to match the functional recovery of traditional nerve grafting procedures. This project builds upon existing nerve guidance conduit or channel devices by incorporating biocompatible bioactive microwires to improve neural healing. This new device is naturally biodegradable and bioresorbable in the body, mechanically matching neural tissue, and electrically conductive for neural stimulation and controlled release of neuroprotective ions. This bioresorbable neural device does not require removal surgery as it degrades in a natural and safe manner. Overall, the integration of bioactive microwires into nerve guidance conduit or channels can accelerate neural recovery process and improve functional outcome while eliminating the need for additional surgery. 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.

NSF Program Director: Ruth Shuman