Project Summary/Abstract - from the Phase I STTR award The proposed technology is an intraoperative kit comprised of a liquid solution which will conjugate gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to tissue grafts within minutes. Tissue grafts, such as those used in ACL reconstruction surgery, rarely achieve 100% graft assimilation, thereby leading to a host of problems. A potential solution is to modify the grafts in order to enhance integration and reduce inflammation and thus improve clinical outcomes. The innovation of this technology is the development of the intraoperative kit to attach AuNPs to grafts in surgical suite settings. These grafts can be autografts or commercially available allografts, xenografts, or any other natural materials such as collagen or 3D printed tissues. The specific aims of the project will validate the concept of an intraoperative AuNP-tissue conjugation method. Two specific aims will be rigorously pursued, which include 1) optimizing the intraoperative kit method by producing AuNP grafts that reduce inflammation while increasing cellular proliferation via in vitro studies and 2) validating the inflammation modulation ability and cellular proliferation of the modified grafts in an ACL reconstruction in vivo model. Currently, there are no commercial technologies that modify biologic grafts in order to promote remodeling and reduce inflammation. The significance of this research is the development of an intraoperative method to modify biological grafts to improve clinical performance. The PI and sub-contract PI have the expertise to pursue the aims of this STTR Phase 1 proposal; they have years of experience developing nanomaterial-tissue bionanocomposites and have been involved with several start-up companies.

Project Narrative – from the Phase I STTR award A technology to efficiently attach gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to biological grafts in the surgical suite will be investigated to improve graft remodeling and integration. Specifically, this research will investigate ACL grafts due to the failure of these grafts to remodel into a functional ligament, which can compromise the overall structural integrity leading to instability, re-injury, and/or osteoarthritis.