Gatekeeper – Bioprinting in vitro mini-models with recapitulating in vivo anatomy of the blood-brain barrier using remodelable elastin-like protein bioinks and neural progenitor cells

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Daniela Filipa Duarte Campos
• Subject Area: Medical Physics, Biomedical Technology
• Term: from 2019 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 425869082

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a highly complex, multi-layered structure that serves as the gatekeeper between the central nervous system and the rest of the body. Three-dimensional BBB in vitro mini-models are potential platforms for understanding how the BBB functions, evaluating drug penetration across the barrier and investigating personalized therapies for neurodegenerative diseasesThe goal of Gatekeeper is to investigate the feasibility of using elastin-like protein (ELP) hydrogels with varying degradability degrees as bioinks for bioprinting in vitro mini-models with recapitulating anatomy of the BBB.The execution of Gatekeeper is divided in three parts: 1) development and characterization of ELP bioprintable bioinks, 2) printability testing and optimization of printing parameters of ELP bioinks and 3) bioprinting of BBB mini-models with primary murine neural progenitor cells.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professorin Sarah Heilshorn, Ph.D.