Description:
Inducing piezoelectricity in collagenous scaffolds using polarization
NJIT Case No. 16-014
Inventors: Treena Arinzeh, Michael Jaffe, Amir Hossein Rajabi
Intellectual Property & Development status: Patent protection 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 novel composition and method for biocompatible, biodegradable, and piezoelectric biomaterial, which mimics the behavior of natural tissues such as bone and cartilage and improves cellular attachment, growth and differentiation.
The use of piezoelectric biomaterials in tissue engineering scaffolds and medical devices allow for electrical stimulus without external power sources or batteries. Conventional piezoelectric biomaterials, such as piezoelectric ceramics or synthetic piezoelectric polymers are either immunogenic or non-biodegradable. Collagen as the most abundant protein in mammalian tissues, is biocompatible and biodegradable. However, due to the randomness of collagen fiber arrangement in most processed collagenous products, the piezoelectricity of the fibers may be diminished or canceled out. The invention is a method to induce piezoelectricity not only in collagen but also in collagen derived materials, such as gelatin, and other proteins for grafts, scaffolds, implants and biomedical devices, by electric poling. Piezoelectric collagen mimics the piezoelectric behavior of natural tissues such as bone and cartilage, and improves cellular attachment, growth and differentiation and will degrade in-vivo leaving behind the regenerated tissue.
Advantages
• Increased efficiency
• Mimics the natural environment
• Biodegradable
• Biocompatible
Applications
• Bone defects
• Cartilage defects
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.