The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has granted a one-year, $570,000 contract for research into regeneration of damaged muscle tissue. CellThera, a biotechnology division of the Bioengineering Institute (BEI) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Massachusetts, received the contract-its second from DARPA for this line of research-which will take its current tissue-regeneration research into its second major phase. CellThera, in turn, subcontracted with WPI for certain elements of the research.
This joint research model was established in 2006, when DARPA funded the first phase of the tissue regeneration program. In that initial phase of the research, the CellThera/WPI team worked successfully in conjunction with colleagues at Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, to reprogram mouse and human skin cells to act more like stem cells. The research group was able to curb injured tissue’s tendency to form scar tissue, and instead stimulate it to show markers similar to those in blastemas, the undifferentiated cell masses that animals who naturally regenerate limbs form before regrowing a severed limb. In the new phase of the program, the CellThera/WPI team will try to engineer cells to form functional, contractile, skeletal muscle tissue.
“We are very pleased to be moving into the next phase of this work,” said Raymond Page, PhD, research assistant professor in BEI and WPI’s Department of Biology and Biotechnology, who serves as the principal investigator for WPI’s portion of the program. “The collaboration between WPI and CellThera continues to grow and show progress. We look forward to tackling the challenges ahead.”
Joining the effort for the new phase of this work will be George Pins, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering at WPI, who has pioneered novel cell-delivery strategies that will be useful for the project. The new phase also involves collaboration with the clinical research team led by Raymond Dunn, MD, professor of surgery and cell biology at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Medical School, Worcester, and chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester.
“This new award not only validates the important work CellThera and WPI are doing in the area of regenerative medicine, but by bringing together basic science, engineering and the clinical expertise of UMass, along with the commercial strength in the Worcester region, this work will help push the science closer to the clinic and closer to helping people recover from devastating injuries,” said Eric W. Overström, PhD, professor and head of WPI’s department of biology and biotechnology.
The long-range goal of the DARPA program is to find ways to harness the body’s natural regenerative abilities to heal wounds that involve bone, muscle, nerves, and soft tissue. The impetus for the program is to develop new therapies for soldiers who return home from war with major injuries. If successful, however, the science will also have a broad range of civilian applications. “Translating basic science advances into products and technologies that can improve people’s lives is BEI’s core mission,” said BEI Director W. Grant McGimpsey, PhD. “So it’s exciting to see the talented teams at CellThera, WPI, and UMass Medical School working together seamlessly to advance this program.”
