The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project derives from the ability to enhance the status of cells and tissues for more effective therapies in regenerative medicine to treat a variety of diseases. Moreover, emerging drug treatments in areas such as cardiovascular disease and cancer can be optimized. This approach will be more efficient than direct and difficult-to-control animal studies. Thus at a societal level, the proposed technology has the potential to rapidly bring robust treatments to millions of patients with critical health problems. The commercial impact of this project is expected to be most substantial in the pharmaceutical and regenerative medicine industry wherein during the product development phase conventional animal studies which are very expensive and time-consuming can be significantly reduced.This I-Corps project focuses on a device that can grow cells and tissues under any combination of flow, stretch and flexure (FSF) mechanical loads. The device, the FSF bioreactor system provides a platform for advanced cell biomanufacturing in regenerative medicine by regulating the fate of stem cells. It can also be used as a cardiovascular model system to objectively evaluate the efficacy of pharmaceutical agents while being subjected to the mechanical conditions of the human circulation. Under a combination of flow and cyclic flexure states as well as under pulsatile flow settings, the system has already demonstrated that stem cells convert to cells exhibiting cardiovascular characteristics. Moreover, it has also been shown that the underlying driver of this conversion is oscillations in the fluid flow, which the FSF bioreactor is able to facilitate and regulate.
