National Science Foundation Announces $20M Research Award to Sout...( The largest single...),Health

The largest single competitive NSF award in SC history

CHARLESTON, S.C., July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded South Carolina $20 million to establish a statewide alliance in the field of tissue biofabrication, which could lead to the production of human organs.

Lead scientist for the project, Roger Markwald, Ph.D., Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), said, "We are trying to build tissue and organs from the inside out, which is a different approach than anyone has taken. First, we want to create a three-dimensional vascular tree and then the organ. This will allow us to develop the applications to build many different types of organs."

The alliance includes the state's three doctoral granting research universities, Clemson University, MUSC and the University of South Carolina. Three historically black colleges & universities, Claflin University, South Carolina State University and Voorhees College are included. Furman University and the University of South Carolina-Beaufort are also members of the alliance. Two-year technical colleges participating in the research are Denmark Technical College and Greenville Technical College. Principal investigator for the award is Jerry Odom, Ph.D., executive director of the University of South Carolina Foundations. SCRA will serve as fiscal agent of the award.

"Dr. Markwald is to be congratulated on his leadership of this broadly based team effort," said Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., MUSC President. "South Carolina has brought together strengths from many institutions and the collective effort has placed us among the leaders nationally in this important research area."

The award provides for:

• Expansion of a current MUSC bioprinting program into a statewide Advanced Tissue Biofabrication center'/>"/>