Jinho Kim Receives $895K Department of Defense Grant to Use Personalized Stem Cell Therapy to Repair Damaged Tracheas
Stevens biomedical engineering professor works to develop bioengineered tissues to treat failing and injured windpipes
The trachea, or windpipe, allows air to pass in and out of the lungs. A tracheal injury, whether genetic or external, can interfere with breathing and quickly become life-threatening. Current treatment options are generally limited to a tracheostomy — a tube permanently implanted into the neck — or palliative care.
Jinho Kim, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, is working to breathe new life into trachea repair. Kim has received a $895,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for his research into “Leveraging Personalized Stem Cell Therapy to Overcome Airway Reconstruction.” The project aims to create a novel method of implanting functional bioengineered tissue made from stem cells to mend the trachea. It is part of a $3.3 million total award involving collaboration with Dr. Ya-Wen Chen and Dr. Eric Genden at Mount Sinai in New York City.
Overcoming barriers to trachea transplants
Restoring trachea function using transplanted, donor or artificially created tissue has not yet been successful.
Transplanting tissue to expand or otherwise repair the trachea has not proven viable either. Airway tissue is unique, and other body tissues don’t effectively carry out the same vital jobs in the same space.
The shortage of donor airway cells, along with surgical and immune system challenges, has made external transplants unfeasible.
So far, bioartificial tissues have largely failed because they could not clear inhaled pathogens such as dust, viruses and bacteria, and the body’s immune responses would trigger inflammation and even death.
Clearing the airways through stem cell therapy
In contrast, stem cell-based technology holds significant promise for repairing dysfunctional trachea tissues and restoring their functions.
Ya-Wen Chen, from Mount Sinai, is one of the world’s experts in growing and expanding human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). She cultivates stem cells that can turn into the cells that live in the tracheal tissues. Eric Genden supports the work to translate the bioengineered airway tissues into clinical applications.
Kim and his biomechanical engineering team at Stevens are developing a bioreactor in which the trachea tissue graft and stem cells can be cultured and turned into working tissue.
“Our approach involves removing cells from trachea tissue — either from animal models or human donors — and implanting hPSCs that regenerate a functional tissue,” Kim explained. “This trachea graft acts as a scaffold where stem cells attach, grow and regenerate tissue function. This process can restore the trachea.”
They’ve already successfully removed and implanted the cells into the tracheas of small animals, including mice and rats. Now they’re exploring the best ways to achieve this in larger animals such as pigs.
A breath of fresh air for solving respiratory challenges
Kim has been working on lung research since his postdoctoral days at Columbia University in 2013. After joining Stevens as an assistant professor in 2018, he continued his studies on animal lung tissue. Stem cell transplants were the focus of his first project at Stevens, where he has also worked to address areas such as lung infections and damage from ventilators.
Beyond developing functional bioengineered airway tissue, Kim and the team are also exploring the use of bioreactors and stem cell technology to revolutionize whole organ regeneration and transplants for conditions from lung disease to heart and liver damage.
He finds the work rewarding, both from a research perspective and from the knowledge that his efforts may help save lives.
“Some children are born with defective airways or very narrow tracheas, making breathing difficult,” he said. “Combat soldiers can suffer airway damage, sometimes requiring long-term dependence on breathing machines. The technology we are advancing could offer a way to treat these patients. It’s exciting to see how our work could lead to real clinical applications.”