New Jersey Center for Biomaterials

The New Jersey Center for Biomaterials

Building a nationally leading resource in biomaterials and implant science
Promoting the implementation of “regenerative medicine” – a fundamentally new approach to the treatment of aging, disease, and trauma-related tissue loss

What is “Regenerative Medicine”?

Currently metals and various plastics are used in the manufacture of implantable prostheses. Example: The hip implant, the breast implant, the artificial heart valve, etc. All these devices are temporary replacements of natural tissue and ultimately fail if left in the body for too long. Regenerative medicine is “helping the body to heal itself” – a fundamentally new approach designed to naturally regenerate lost or damaged tissue without permanent implants.

What are “Tissue Scaffolds”?

Tissue scaffolds are the new medical implants of the future: small, porous, tissue-like implants made of fully degradable, specially designed biomaterials that support cells at the site of injury and assist the body in growing new, functional tissue. When the damaged or lost tissue has been successfully replaced by new tissue, the scaffold will have completely resorbed. Examples: Regeneration of severed nerves, regrowth of the anterior cruciate ligament in sports injuries, replacement of burned skin, replacement of a blocked artery by a newly grown blood vessel avoiding a by-pass operation, newly grown heart valves instead of artificial valve replacements.

What are the Scientific and Technological Challenges in Regenerative Medicine?

We don’t understand the basic, underlying science of “tissue growth and differentiation” sufficiently to control and guide the body’s healing response
Finding the optimal design for a “tissue scaffold” is extremely difficult, comparable to trying to design a modern airplane in the absence of any fundamental understanding of aerodynamics and fluid flow
We don’t have the right biomaterials – the materials base of the medical device industry is hopelessly outmoded. Virtually all currently used medical implant materials will not degrade (resorb) in the body, making them useless for the design of tissue scaffolds

What Can Research Universities Do to Address these Challenges?

Rutgers, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and New Jersey Institute of Technology collectively have unique strengths and a unique opportunity to make a major contribution to the field of regenerative medicine:

The New Jersey Center for Biomaterials brings together engineers, scientists, and clinicians in a state-of-the-art collaborative program based in the new Rutgers Life Sciences Building. The Center fosters the critically needed collaboration between different disciplines.
Joachim Kohn at Rutgers is the inventor of several new, fully degradable tissue scaffold materials. One of his inventions, tyrosine-derived polycarbonates, have been widely publicized and are qualified by the Food and Drug Administration to be used in biomedical product development. Several companies are testing these materials in bone tissue scaffolds, cardiovascular stents and ophthalmic therapies. We have the right materials for use in tissue scaffolds!
An NIH-funded biomedical technology resource center at Rutgers, operating under the umbrella of the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, is applying the concepts of computational design and modeling to the challenge of defining the optimal design of a tissue scaffold. Results to date are impressive: The group has built a computer algorithm referred to as an Artificial Neural Network that was able to predict correctly the metabolic activity of cells grown in vitro, based on the properties of the scaffold material on which they were grown. This is an unprecedented breakthrough. The group now involves researchers at three universities pursuing varied approaches to predicting the interaction between cells and biomaterials.
To address the critical shortage of a wide diversity of tissue scaffold materials needed, faculty of the Center for Biomaterials are implementing a combinatorial approach to polymer development. Combinatorial chemistry helped transform the process of drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry. We are now attempting (with highly promising initial results) to implement a combinatorial approach to tissue scaffold materials. A start-up company, TyRx Pharma Inc. (Monmouth Junction, NJ) has been formed around this technology and has received significant corporate funding. Major technological challenges are being addressed:

Combinatorial and computational approaches supplying polymers to a wide network of researchers
Parallel synthesis of “libraries” of polymers optimized for specific biomedical uses
Rapid-throughput characterization of the physical and biological properties of biomaterials
Prototype development for pre-clinical studies

What Else is Happening at the Center for Biomaterials?

Drug Delivery

Typically made of long molecules called polymers, the materials are fabricated with drug molecules linked to them. As the drug-bearing matrix degrades, it releases the pharmaceutical agent over time and at exactly the desired location.
Transdermal delivery of drugs is a key strategy that Center faculty use in exploring safer and better methods of providing therapies in the most appropriate location in the body.

Gene Delivery – Research on non-viral polymeric vectors to implement genetic therapies

Examples of the Benefits to Health and Medical Care Derived from Biomaterials Research

Cancer patients	Targeted chemotherapy
Heart attack survivors	Biodegradable, drug-eluting cardiovascular stents
People with diabetes	Implanted insulin sensing and delivery
Children with birth defects	Major tissue regeneration
Adults with cardiovascular diseases	Replacement small diameter peripheral blood vessels for impaired circulation in the legs
Burn victims	Full thickness skin regeneration scaffolds
Athletes with sports injuries	Synthetic scaffolds for regeneration of bone, cartilage and ligaments

One of the greatest outcomes of the work of the Center for Biomaterials will be to help us all age with dignity by eliminating the pain, suffering, and dependence that are often associated with aging-related tissue damage.

For further information contact: admin@njbiomaterials.org