Continued: NSF award
The award brings together multiple expertise and talent from across South Carolina and is a true collaborative effort with tremendous scientific rigor, said Dr. Jerry Odom, principal investigator for the award.
“This holds the promise of raising South Carolina to national prominence in the field of human tissue biofabrication,” said Odom, who is the executive director of the University of South Carolina Foundations.
Dr. Roger Markwald of MUSC, the lead scientist for the project, said the research program will seek to “build tissue and organs from the inside out, which is a different approach than anyone has taken.”
“First, we want to create a three-dimensional vascular tree and then the organ,” he said. “This will allow us to develop the applications to build many different types of organs.”
The award provides for the following:
- Expansion of a current Medical University of South Carolina bioprinting program into a statewide Advanced Tissue Biofabrication center
- Recruitment of 22 new faculty with expertise not currently available in South Carolina
- Creation of a global e-community to facilitate the development of sophisticated databases in vascular technology
- Establishment of national and international academic industrial collaborations and the integration of statewide initiatives for workforce development, education and communication to the general public
- Integration of the alliance’s research with K-12 education to build South Carolina’s future high-tech workforce.