Mikos lab aids new push for regenerative medicine

Five-year program seeks to standardize processes, materials for replacement organs, tissue

Rice University bioengineers led by Antonios Mikos will take part in a five-year, $20 million effort to apply advanced manufacturing techniques to regenerative medicine.

The goal of the effort led by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is to speed up the availability of replacement tissue and organs to patients.

Antonios Mikos

The award springs from a public-private partnership that involves the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command. The partnership, known as the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, intends to accelerate progress in regenerative medicine manufacturing.

Rice is a partner in the associated Regenerative Manufacturing Innovation Consortium, which helps ensure a smooth transition of therapies to market and works with government agencies to develop standards and address regulatory changes.

“Our work will focus on the development of standardized processes and materials for the manufacturing of regenerative medicine products for the benefit of patients,” said Mikos, Rice’s Louis Calder Professor of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering.

The Mikos lab specializes in the synthesis, processing and evaluation of new biomaterials for use as scaffolds for tissue engineering, as nonviral vectors for gene therapy and as carriers for controlled drug delivery. His work has led to the development of novel orthopedic, dental, cardiovascular, neurologic and ophthalmologic biomaterials, including synthetic biodegradable polymers that can be used for guided tissue growth and the precise regeneration of bone to repair defects and injuries.