STEMCEDIF (MSCA-IF) – at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL)

Jagoda Litowczenko-Cybulska joined STEM CELL POTENCY group at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona as a postdoctoral researcher under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF), where she worked on the development of cell-laden 3D printed vascular grafts which will contribute to the understanding of the subject of vascular tissue engineering.

Project „Polymeric cell-laden vascular graft for blood vessel mimicking in tissue engineering applications” (STEMCEDIF) was realized 1.09.2022-2024 at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). During the project Fellow was at Secondment in Electronic and Electrical Engineering Department of University College London (UCL), UK, and several internships at University of Valladolid, Bioforge, Spain.

The main goal of the project led by dr Jagoda Litowczenko-Cybulska as a MSCA-IF Fellow, was to design and fabricate the polymer-based 3D bioprinted cell-laden vascular grafts (CLVG, scaffold) with certain physical morphology (patterns) and biological properties. Development of such 3D bioprinted vascular grafts allow to study the interactions among three cell types that in physiological conditions create vessels – endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts.

Objectives

The project has achieved most of its objectives and milestones, with relatively minor deviations. The primary aim of this Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF) was to fabricate the polymer-based 3D bioprinted cell-laden vascular grafts.

Team Members:

Jagoda Litowczenko-Cybulska, PhD – PI

Affiliations:

Regenerative Medicine Program, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL) and Program for Clinical Translation of Regenerative Medicine in Catalonia (P-CMRC), L’Hospitalet del Llobregat, Spain

Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red—Bioingeniería, Biomedicina y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain

Yannick Richter, MSc

Affiliation:

Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund University, Dortmund 44227, Germany

Angel Raya, MD, PhD – Host

Affiliations:

Regenerative Medicine Program, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL) and Program for Clinical Translation of Regenerative Medicine in Catalonia (P-CMRC), L’Hospitalet del Llobregat, Spain

Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red—Bioingeniería, Biomedicina y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain

Conferences

During the MSCA-IF project and after that, the Fellow participated in conferences:

• Development of Tissue-Engineered Cell-Laden Vascular Grafts with Micro/Nano Topographical Cues from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivatives; J. Litowczenko, Y. Richter, M. Michalska, K. Tadevosyan, JC Rodriguez-Cabello, I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya; 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation, 5-7.06.2024 Barcelona, Spain (accepted for publication at European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal) – oral presentation

• Cell-laden biomimetic tissue-engineered vascular grafts with Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-derivatives; J. Litowczenko, Y. Richter, K. Tadevosyan, Martyna Michalska, I. Lazisa, JC Rodriguez-Cabello, I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya; RegenBell symposium on Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, 27-28.10.2023 at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans; Barcelona, Spain – oral presentaton

• Novel 3D Bioprinting-Casting-Perfusion Approach for Hierarchical Reconstruction of Three-Layered Blood Vessels; Y Richter, M. Michalska, K. Tadevosyan, J.C. Rodriguez-Cabello, I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya, J. Litowczenko; 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation, 5-7.06.2024 Barcelona, Spain

• Cell-Laden Tissue-Engineered Vascular Grafts with Topographical Cues from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivatives; J Litowczenko, Y. Richter, M. Michalska, K. Tadevosyan, J.C. Rodriguez-Cabello, I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya; EMBO Workshop: Building networks 2024: engineering in vascular biology; 6-8.05.2024 Barcelona, Spain

• Cell-laden biomimetic tissue-engineered blood vessels with Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells-derivatives, J Litowczenko, M. Michalska, K. Tadevosyan, Laura Casado, J.C. Rodriguez-Cabello, I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya; 33rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Biomaterials, 4-9.09.2023 Davos, Switzerland.

Communications

Development of Tissue-Engineered Cell-Laden Vascular Grafts with Micro/Nano Topographical Cues from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivatives; J. Litowczenko, Y. Richter, M. Michalska, K. Tadevosyan, JC Rodriguez-Cabello, I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya; 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation, European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal, (DOI: 10.1111/eci.14220, 5.722 IF)

Novel 3D Bioprinting-Casting-Perfusion Approach for Hierarchical Reconstruction of Three-Layered Blood Vessels; Y. Richter, M. Michalska, K. Tadevosyan, J.C. Rodriguez-Cabello,
I. Papakonstantinou, A. Raya, J. Litowczenko*; 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society for Clinical Investigation, European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal, (DOI: 10.1111/eci.14220, 5.722 IF)

Publications:

• Effect of Unique ELR Composites and Nano/Micropatterning on Attachment and Spreading of iPSC-EC – full research manuscript under preparation

• Development of Novel Tissue-Engineered Cell-Laden Vascular Grafts with Micro/Nano Topographical Cues from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derivatives – full research manuscript under preparation

Dissemination

During the MSCA-IF project and after that, the Fellow participated in several outreach and dissemination activities like conferences, seminars, lectures aimed at different target audiences, including researchers, students, and school kids.

Stand-up Science – popularisation of MSCA-IF results to the general public at Summer Experience de L’Hospitalet, Spain, 7.07.2023, Recording for STEMCEDIF popularization available on IDIBELL YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=y3aCrmWkjSQ ;

Knowledge transfer from the STEMCEDIF project regarding 3D bioprinting of large cell-laden constructs to another project carried out at IDIBELL was promoted and recorded – available on SinergiaLH:  youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7x3Jz0M8U&t=21s