Paweł Nakielski from Department of Biosystems and Soft Matter (IPPT PAN), has become winner of the LIDER competition. Project name: Injectable scaffolds for tissue engineering.
The aim of the LIDER Programme is to support of researchers’ career development, especially increasing the competencies of self-reliant planning and managing a research team through the realization of application-oriented research projects.
Injectable scaffolds for tissue engineering.
Spine diseases are a significant medical problem affecting many people around the world, and spinal pain syndromes are among the most common symptoms in clinical practice. In Poland, the statistics of the Social Insurance Institution (Medical Abuse in 2016) indicate that spinal root and nerve plexus disorders, low back pains and other intervertebral disc diseases constitute 17% of the total number of days of sick leave.
In connection with the above, the aim of this project is to design and form an injectable scaffold as a carrier in cell therapy, which will contribute to the regeneration of the intervertebral disc, including the increase of its height.
This product will be part of the treatment of patients with chronic back pain and a means for other treatment methods, e.g. as a drug release system. Minimally invasive procedures are a growing need for both the patient and hospital staff due to the possibility of discharging the patient on the same day. Patients feel significantly reduced pain due to such procedures, they experience much smaller side effects together with a lower risk of reoperation and post-operative infections.
Figure 1. A sketch showing application of the material in nucleus pulposus
Within the project, the new team is going to be set up. It consists of the project leader – Paweł Nakielski and five other people.
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Paweł Nakielski obtained an MSc in Chemical and Process Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology (2010) and holds a PhD degree in technical sciences, obtained at the Nałęcz Institute of Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering (2015). At the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research he works in the field of polymer biomaterials for medical applications. Head/main executor of 8 projects in basic and application research. Author of thirteen scientific papers, a monograph and a patent application concerning method of production of nanofiber materials and their application. |