Description:
Bioactive composite matrix as a bone graft substitute
NJIT Case No. 11-025, 07-042 and 12-002
Inventors: Treena Arinzeh, Tamunotonye Briggs (11-025)
Intellectual Property & Development status:
NJIT Case No. 07-042 – US patent issued. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9181636B2/en?oq=9181636
NJIT Case No. 11-025 – Germany and Japan patent issued. US patent is pending.
NJIT Case No. 12-002 – US, Europe and Japan patent is pending.
NJIT is currently seeking commercial partners for the further development and commercialization of this opportunity.
Technology Brief:
Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology in the Department of Biomedical Engineering have invented a unique bioactive composite matrix that can be used alone or can be combined with a patient’s own bone marrow as an intra-operative point-of-care cell technology.
Over 2.2 million bone graft procedures are performed annually worldwide. Current treatment have a high failure rate due to insufficient bone-healing. Autograft represents the ideal implant material, but it’s limited in supply since it requires bone tissue to be surgically harvested from the patient and long term pain is a common side effect. Allograft has the risk of possible transfer of infectious diseases and limited biological activity for healing. The invention is a bioactive composite matrix, which provides an osteoconductive and osteoinductive scaffold as a bone graft substitute. This composite matrix can be used alone, as an autograft extender, or in combination with a patient’s bone marrow harvested at the time of surgery. The scaffold consists of FDA-approved synthetic materials. It is mechanically flexible for ease of shaping during the surgical procedure. The invention will reduce the treatment costs while improving patient outcomes by improved cell attachment, bone ingrowth and bone formation. Additionally, the composite matrix is produced by the electrospinning process, which is a common fiber forming technique and no other components or processes are required to create the final product.
Stage of Development: The bioactive composite matrix alone has been shown to promote bone formation and ingrowth in concert with degradation a large animal model (sheep femoral defect).
Advantages
• Mechanically flexible for ease of shaping
• Flexibility in use alone or in combination with bone marrow
• Unmanipulated cell therapy
• Enhances the repair process
• Reduces treatment cost
• Simple process to manufacture
Applications
• Bone fractures
• Abnormal skeletal defects
• Reconstructive surgery
Inventors Bio:
Treena Arinzeh, professor of biomedical engineering at NJIT, has earned national recognition for her commitment to making adult stem cell therapy a future reality. Her research interests are in stem cell tissue engineering and applied biomaterials, with a focus in the development of functional biomaterials that can accelerate repair utilizing stem cells and other cell types. She develops biomaterial strategies for the repair of bone, cartilage and other related musculoskeletal tissues. Her research interests also include nerve tissue regeneration, specifically spinal cord.
In fall 2004, President Bush awarded Arinzeh the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest national honor that a young researcher can receive. In 2003, the National Science Foundation also gave Arinzeh its highest honor--a Faculty Early Career Development award that included a $400,000 research grant. Arinzeh’s most cited work to date, in a paper in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, demonstrated that adult stem cells taken from one person could be implanted in another without being rejected. It was among the most significant findings in stem cell research in the past few years.