A group of scientists from Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and Columbia Engineering has actually been granted approximately a $38.95 million agreement from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a living knee replacement from biomaterials and human stem cells, consisting of a client’s own cells. ARPA-H is a federal financing firm that funds transformative biomedical and health research study developments, quickly equating research study from the laboratory to applications in the market.
The Award
The award, part of the ARPA-H’s Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (NITRO) program, will support the advancement of NOVAJoint, an innovative biocompatible, low-priced, patient-specific knee joint replacement. This high-risk task builds on more than twenty years of collective musculoskeletal research study at Columbia in engineering and medication, and guarantees to provide a transformative service for the more than thirty million individuals in the U.S. who struggle with osteoarthritis. NITRO is the very first Health Science Futures particular program under the brand-new ARPA-H firm, developed by the Biden Administration.
The task is led by Clark T. Hung, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Orthopedic Science (in Orthopedic Surgery) at Columbia Engineering, and Nadeen O. Chahine, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, leaders in tissue regrowth and orthopedic research study.
“ARPA-H is an extremely crucial venture that might produce an advancement in tailored and patient-specific services,” stated Shih-Fu Chang, Dean of Columbia Engineering. “As society looks for to deal with the difficulty of population aging, such collective techniques integrating engineering and medication will assist enhance conditions for those with osteoarthritis and lots of other musculoskeletal conditions.”
“We saw throughout the COVID pandemic simply how quick science can move when groups of scientists are provided the assistance and resources to interact,” stated Katrina Armstrong, Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Columbia University. “By focusing Columbia’s competence in biomedical engineering and orthopedic surgical treatment onto a single objective, this financing from ARPA-H has the possible to quickly change the method we deal with osteoarthritis and the method we do biomedical research study in the future.”
Professors leads on the brand-new ARPA-H award are Nadeen O. Chahine(left) and Clark T. Hung. Credit: Steve Myaskovsky/Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Effect of Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint illness that is the most typical kind of arthritis. It slowly aggravates gradually as cartilage, the specialized connective tissue that covers completions of bones, uses down, causing discomfort, tightness, and loss of movement. Osteoarthritis is currently the 3rd most typical kind of special needs and has a projected financial concern of more than $136 billion annually. It disproportionately impacts females, the senior, specific racial/ethnic minorities, and those with lower socioeconomic status. The frequency of knee osteoarthritis has actually been increasing due to aging of the population,
