SYNERGIES Project

"Smart bioreactor-based platform for the multi-phYsical stimulatioN of Engineered osteochondRal tissues towards functional reGeneratIon and advanced diseasE modelS" - SYNERGIES The incidence and socioeconomic burden of osteochondral (OC) diseases are growing worldwide, representing a major challenge for the healthcare systems. Tissue Engineering (TE) emerged as a promising alternative to the current ineffective OC disease treatments. However, state-of-the-art OCTE strategies are still unable to create functional engineered tissues, mainly due to their inability to replicate in vitro the complex physicochemical environment of the native OC tissue within the articular joint, making OC regeneration a critical unmet medical need. The ambitious purpose of the SYNERGIES project is to fill this gap by developing a pioneering smart biomimetic bioreactor-based platform able to culture OC constructs under physiologically and clinically relevant multi-physical stimulations in a controlled and adaptive manner. Cutting-edge in silico modelling and machine learning (ML) tools will be employed for the operational parameters optimization and for the smart automated control of the bioreactor platform, respectively. The SYNERGIES platform will enhance the knowledge of OC tissue mechanobiology beyond the state-of-the-art and guide the improvement of protocols for the production of functional OC substitutes, which will be suitable in vitro models for OC disease research and drug screening, paving the way for new effective therapies. The SYNERGIES project is funded by the European Union under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) (Grant agreement ID: 101155027) and will be developed at Politecnico di Torino (Italy).