FEaturing the valorizatioN of an agro-food by-product: rabbit skin as a matrIX for treating burn wounds

Project Details

Description

Burns affect more than 10 million people annually worldwide and is estimated that 0.04 million burn injuries result in hospitalization, which represents a high economic burden for healthcare system. Full-thickness burns usually require surgery, representing additional costs and long hospitalization periods. Skin autografts, are the goldstandard treatment of deep and extensive burns; however their utility often result in poor functional and aesthetic outcomes. Decellularized extracellular matrices (dECM) have shown promising outcomes in tissue engineering applications, providing exceptional biomimetic cues for restoring damaged tissues. Nevertheless, the most common sources of dECM applied as bio-scaffolds for skin regeneration are bovine and porcine, which may raise religious or disease problems. Rabbit skin has no such concerns and its thickness, architecture and biomechanics are similar to human skin.
Agro-food industries, e.g., fisheries and meet, generate large amounts of residues traditionally discarded. They are now recognized as a viable and low-cost source of biological compounds with high functionality for biomedical
applications. In this scenario, rabbit skin would be a valuable solution for skin regeneration approaches. It is an important agro-food by-product explored by the world-leader felting company Cortadoria Nacional de Pêlo, S.A., generated in more than 5tons/day. This company has reached CBQF-UCP for the co-valorization of this by-product in an ongoing collaboration, which presents a unique opportunity to raise global awareness about the importance
of skin care and to valorize rabbit skin as a sustainable resource for scientific innovation. Thus, FENIX aims to develop a human skin substitute to regenerate burn wounds using innovative decellularized rabbit dermis (dRDs) as a highly preserved extracellular supporting matrix. To do so, three specific objectives will be outlined: 1) The exploitation of rabbit skin to obtain acellular dermis by applying innovative protocols that balance decellularization and preservation of the matrix; 2) The validation of the dRDs as a bilayered human skin substitute by recellularization using patient-specific approaches; 3) The creation of a pre-vascularized full-thickness human skin equivalent by applying a novel conductive stimuli silk-based microneedle technology for smart cell delivery.
Therefore, FENIX represents a unique opportunity to use innovative decellularization methods and advanced biotechnology tools for the valorization of rabbit dermal matrix capable of being translated into clinics and
improve skin regeneration. The sheer magnitude of this project will boost the candidate’s individual career development and autonomy as a researcher and academic, generating IP, prototypes, co-promotion and R&D research projects, and important collaborations between two cross-border research laboratories, a national industrial company and medical advisors in reconstructive plastic surgery field.
AcronymFENIX
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/10/2431/08/30

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