Dr Darren Player, UCL

Skeletal muscle is the human body’s largest ‘organ’ and is affected in numerous diseases and situations of trauma (such as road traffic accidents). Patients are often left with debilitating conditions, significantly impacting their quality of life. For many years, scientists have been trying to develop therapies to replace or regenerate damaged skeletal muscle (through regenerative medicine and tissue engineering), but have faced limits.

With existing technologies, it is difficult to manufacture muscle in the laboratory to the required amount necessary to successfully replace damaged tissue. This project will use a highly novel approach to 3D-bioprinting, using materials and cells required to generate muscle tissue that could be implanted.

It is hoped that this work will pave the way for a new therapy to treat damaged and diseased skeletal muscle tissue. This work will also have applications in the food industry, as the findings will support the manufacture of laboratory grown meat to a scale currently not possible. This will address environmental and food security impacts.