Assessment of cartilage graft maturation in vitro

Osteoarthritis represents one of the big medical challenges in todays society. Although a number of conventional treatments is available, the total knee replacement is still considered the gold standard. Since the lifetime of implants is estimated to be around 15 years, this technique is not suitable for all cohort of patients, for example, younger individuals, thus requiring development of novel regeneration strategies. In the field of Articular Cartilage Tissue Engineering we aim to develop 3 D cell culture strategies for improving the regeneration of damaged cartilage in the knee by using stem cells of the patient. These cells can grow, differentiate and create cartilage tissue if combined with appropriate stimuli. Despite the immense progress in the last decade, a lot of promising strategies, which were created in the laboratory, failed in animal experiments. We hypothesize that the maturity of cells during differentiation plays a key role in their ability to respond positively to the mechanical environment of the knee. In this project, we will investigate the metabolism and therefore the maturity of cells during differentiation. Better understanding of the maturation process will help us predict when cells are ready for the mechanical stresses of the knee and should be employed in animal studies. By increasing the chances of success in such animal studies, we will potentially decrease the number animals used as well as facilitate clinical translation.