Space ImmunoBioInks
Swiss partners
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AO Research Institute Davos: Jacek Wychowaniec (main applicant)
Partners in the MENA region
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New York University Abu Dhabi, Emirats Arabes Unis: Jeremy Teo (main applicant)
Presentation of the project
Space flights were shown to dysregulate the function of astronauts’ immune system, suppressing both the function of innate and adaptive immune cells including monocytes, T-cells and natural killer cells. This reduced responses to both dormant as well as potentially external pathogens, providing a need to study immunological phenomena under microgravity (μG) conditions.
Biofabrication technologies enable patterning of increasingly complex three-dimensional structures with hierarchical architecture, which can resemble native extracellular matrix (ECM), providing model matrices for studying biological and pathophysiological processes. Due to intrinsically different fluid and soft matter dynamics under μG, new types of bioengineering methods for generating biocompatible constructs using more fluidic channels, self-assembling molecules or using extrinsic fields (e.g. magnetic) are possible.
In Space ImmunoBioInks project we proposed to study behaviour of self-assembling peptide (SAPs) bioinks, used for modulation of immune system cells, under μG with an ultimate future goal of providing novel biofabrication tools for studies in space.
In our work, we identified two potent peptide sequences that modulate macrophages either to a pro-inflammatory state (YEF8) or an anti-inflammatory state (EF8), with several peptide sequences not inducing any inflammatory response in our immunological study models. Importantly, the two opposing polarization states observed when evaluated in standard gravity conditions related to the structural and chemical differences between the two studied peptides. We noticed that for these two sequences forming hydrogels, the extent of polarization capacity against THP-1 cells-derived macrophages persisted after simulated μG treatment. This polarization however was weaker, potentially indicating re-structuring of the formed hydrogel networks under μG.
Our Space ImmunoBioinks are injectable and structuring hydrogels that enable the physical entrapment of immune cells and subsequent modulation of their polarization in a peptide design-driven manner, providing basis for future immunomodulatory tissue engineering in space.
Article in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2025)_A
Article in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2025)_B
Symposium on ESB 2023 biomaterials conference
Further project - SI-WHIM - Space ImmunoBioInks for Wound Healing In Microgravity