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Project # 23
Tapping Into Bone Marrow Stem Cells for Shoulder Repair: A New Regenerative Technology
| Team Lead: | Feabie Mendiaz |
| Other Team Members: | Bhavya Vaish | Nathan Gray | Briana Von Hedemann-Kovscek |
| Faculty Advisor(s): | Dr. Tang |
| Department: | BE |
| Project Type: | Other Undergraduate |
| Title: | Tapping Into Bone Marrow Stem Cells for Shoulder Repair: A New Regenerative Technology |
| Abstract: | Glenoid labral tears were common in athletes, particularly baseball players, and were typically treated surgically with low success rates due to the lack of regenerative stem cells. To overcome this limitation, we recently invented a new method to release and then attract patients' stem cells from bone marrow to the torn labrum using a tunnel and an adhesive that released a cell-recruiting molecule's platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Briefly, beneath the torn labral tissue, a bone tunnel was created using a millimeter-sized drill bit, and our PDGF-releasing adhesive was then placed outside the tunnel entrance on the labrum side. Our results showed that the combination of the cell tunnel and PDGF bioadhesive effectively created a “highway” for bone marrow stem cells to migrate to the torn labrum. Post-surgical tissue analysis revealed that the recruited stem cells underwent labrum tissue regeneration, reflected by the high expression of vimentin and collagen type I, labrum cell differentiation. Using gait analyses to assess shoulder functional recovery showed that compared with conventional treatment, the new treatment significantly improved functional recovery by more than 20%. Our results suggested that this new technology could revolutionize current treatment with significantly improved outcomes. |
| Poster: | View Poster #23 (PDF) |
| Judges Scoring: | Submit Evaluation (judges only) |