Project Grant R41DK139872

This Project Grant award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847), aims to establish the feasibility of a natural, coaxial electrospun scaffold as an alternative to synthetic surgical mesh for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women. The $585,504 award to Novagyn LLC will support the fabrication and testing of a scaffold made from silk fibroin and polyhydroxybutyrate, with the goal of promoting the formation of healthy scar tissue to support the urethra as the scaffold degrades over time. The 1-year project will focus on developing a tunable scaffold fabrication protocol, validating the scaffold's mechanical properties, and comparing the extracellular matrix deposition and fibroblast proliferation on the coaxial scaffold versus the current polypropylene mesh. If successful, this device could provide a more biocompatible and effective solution for the approximately 300,000 women who undergo midurethral sling procedures for SUI each year in the U.S.