Demonstrator grant ‘ultrACLean’

Dr. Jasper Foolen together with Prof. Jan de Boer were awarded an NWO Demonstrator grant for their project: “ultrACLean: A novel decellularized off-the-shelf human graft for improved anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction”.

Rupture of the ACL results in direct instability of the knee joint. It is a common injury with rising prevalence. The ACL does not self-heal upon rupture. The current gold standard of care is to reconstruct the torn ACL with a patient’s own tendon. Unfortunately, these grafts do not restore native ACL structure and function and can therefore rupture and/or result in knee osteoarthritis. Building on our recently developed techniques, we will develop a novel off-the-shelf human decellularized bone-ACL-bone donor allograft (ultrACLean). In this project, we will 1) bring our technology at TRL5 by establishing the required quality control steps; 2) demonstrate our technology to i.e. orthopedic surgeons and potential commercial parties; and in parallel 3) develop a  Transfer Action Plan. The ultrACLean graft aims to outperform currently used grafts, since it has the potential to fully restore knee structure and function.