RODIN project, funded by the European Research Council through a Synergy grant (ERC-Syn), will invest 10 M€ to explore cells as the architects of future biomaterials

(Press-News.org) RODIN - Cell-mediated Sculptable Living Platforms-, is set to revolutionize the field of biomaterials and tissue engineering by shifting the focus from designing materials for cells to empowering cells to design their own environments. The team composed by Professor João Mano at the Associate Laboratory CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials from University of Aveiro (Portugal) - The Biomaterials Engineer, Professor Tom Ellis at Imperial College London (UK)- The Synthetic Biologist and Professor Nuno Araújo at Faculty of Sciences, from the University of Lisbon (Portugal)- The Physicist, will combine expertise to rethink how living systems interact with materials.

From Passive Scaffolds to Living Sculptures

Biomaterials have been used in medicine for more than seven decades, in applications such as implantable devices, drug release systems or three-dimensional supports for cells in regenerative medicine. The development of biomaterials has been done typically by testing formulations one by one, a time-consuming task than often does not provide optimal solutions. RODIN challenges this paradigm by giving cells flexible, sculptable materials they can physically reshape as they grow. As cells pull, push, and organize themselves, they remodel these materials, creating dynamic microenvironments more closely resembling natural tissues. RODIN seeks to discover the subtle key structural features that the cells engrave into such materials when they are driven to produce specific tissues. These could disclose unprecedent and precious information on the microenvironments that cells prefer to experience. The team aims to learn from this “architectural wisdom” of cells to design new generations of higher performance biomaterials.

“Cells are nature’s engineers,” say the project leaders of RODIN. “By giving them the right tools, we can learn from their own blueprints for building life-like structures.”

A Fusion of Disciplines and Technologies

The project unites three complementary scientific frontiers, namely: (1) Biomaterials Engineering - developing ultra-thin, flexible microfilms that cells can fold and shape. (2) Synthetic Biology - providing living biological control encoded in the thin membranes to control cell behaviour and fate. (3) Computational Physics - using numerical modeling and machine learning to decode how geometry, mechanics, and biochemistry guide cell behavior.

By integrating these three approaches, RODIN will generate unprecedented datasets on the landscapes that cells dynamically create in shapeable materials.

Scientific Impact and Societal Promise

RODIN’s vision opens a new dimension in biomaterials science - one where materials and cells co-evolve. This could open the door to a new generation of advanced biomaterials for tissue engineering, that could be used in regenerative-based therapies for the treatment of damaged tissues, or in the design of disease models, to test drugs in-vitro in realistic conditions, thus reducing reliance on animal experimentation.

From Art to Science –creativity is the key

The name of the project is inspired by the sculptor Auguste Rodin, regarded as the pioneer of modern sculpture and a master in capturing the realism and vitality of the human form. Just as Rodin studied anatomy and movement to sculpt life into stone, this project seeks to understand how cells “sculpt” their surroundings, shaping life with the same precision and purpose.

RODIN represents a bold step toward materials that not only host life - but learn from it.

 

The Synergy projects funded by the European Research Council (ERC) allow a group of researchers with complementary expertise and recognized merit to foster breakthroughs through collaborative research on problems so innovative and ambitious that they could not be addressed individually.

As with other ERC grants, the only criterion is scientific excellence, both in the proposal project and track record of the applications — but in this case, it is combined with the justification for the need for the synergistic work proposed by the team.

END