SUPRAmolecular Hydrogel Driven Assembly of Designer Heart Tissues

The SUPRAHEART proof-of-concept project aims to use our squaramide-based (SQ) filamentous double network hydrogels for assembly of engineered heart tissues (EHTs). As the current dependency of EHTs on natural materials (e.g., collagen I, Matrigel) limits their large-scale application as cardiac models, their generation using a fully synthetic matrix will provide improved reproducibility, tunability and scalability, opening the door for their use as a high-throughput pharmaceutical testing platform. Expanding on our development of bioactive and mechanically tunable squaramide-based hydrogels for the 3D culture of a broad range of cell types, we will scale-up the synthesis of the needed squaramide materials, perform in- depth characterization of the structural and mechanical properties of formed hydrogels, develop protocols to generate EHTs in the squaramide hydrogels and evaluate the quality of the formed tissues within the materials. In parallel with these activities, we will prepare a business plan that presents a roadmap to market, perform detailed market research on these mechanically tunable hydrogels for 3D cell culture and protect our intellectual property (IP) position. Should a patent application be successful, we will collaborate with local partners for commercialization through product licensing.