SNM: Continuous and Scalable Nanomanufacturing for 3-Dimensional Functional Biomedical Devices

糖尿病、心力衰竭和肝功能衰竭是美国人的巨大负担。这些致命疾病的有效治疗需要应用新的工程概念和技术。组织工程学为这些疾病的治疗带来了巨大的希望。使用可生物降解的支架，细胞被组织成彼此紧密靠近，具有良好定义的三维（3D）空间，用于形成新组织。虽然典型的生物细胞具有几微米的尺寸，但细胞与环境的相互作用发生在纳米级。制造具有微米和纳米尺度特征的这种支架已经成为组织的工业规模生产的重要瓶颈。本研究的目标是开发一种新型的纳米制造系统，超透镜辅助投影立体光刻（HAPS），具有亚50 nm的分辨率，用于直接写入3D，异质性生物支架。研究任务包括：a）通过模拟与实验相结合设计和制造超透镜，B）将超透镜与投影立体光刻系统集成，c）设计和制造复杂组织支架，以及d）使用支架研究血管内皮细胞和平滑肌细胞的生长和表型调节。如果成功，该项目将有助于加强美国新兴的生物制造业，用于生产血管组织、皮肤、骨骼和其他组织和器官。拟议的HAPS技术将促进可扩展的，连续的3D纳米制造的一大步，不仅功能性生物医学设备，而且3D纳米电子，纳米光子学和纳米能源设备。此外，这项工作的结果将提供鼓舞人心的教材和有趣的实验室项目。将研究与教育相结合的建议将为本科生和研究生提供更多的纳米制造机会。拟议的研讨会和讲习班将大大提高纳米制造研究的影响。

Diabetes, heart failure, and hepatic failure are diseases of enormous burden to Americans. The effective therapies for these often lethal diseases require the application of novel engineering concepts and technologies. Tissue engineering holds great promise for the treatment of these diseases. Using biodegradable scaffolds, cells are organized in close proximity to each other with a well-defined 3-dimensional (3D) space for the formation of new tissues. While a typical biological cell has a size of several microns, the interactions of cells with the environment occur at a nanoscale. Fabricating such scaffolds with micro- and nano-scale features has been a significant bottleneck for industrial scale production of tissues. The goal of this research is to develop a novel nanomanufacturing system, Hyperlens-Assisted Projection Stereolithography (HAPS), with a sub-50 nm resolution for the direct-write of 3D, heterogeneous biological scaffolds. The research tasks include: a) design and fabrication of the hyperlens by combining simulation with experiments, b) integration of the hyperlens with the projection stereolithography system, c) design and fabrication of complex tissue scaffolds, and d) studying the growth and phenotypical modulation of vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells using the scaffolds.If successful, this project will help to enhance the emerging US biomanufacturing industry for the production of vascular tissues, skins, bones, and other tissues and organs. The proposed HAPS technique will foster a giant step for scalable, continuous 3D nanomanufacturing of not only functional biomedical devices, but also 3D nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, and nanoenergy devices. Moreover, the results of this work will provide inspiring teaching materials and interesting laboratory projects. The proposed efforts of integrating research with education will offer undergraduates and graduate students increased exposure to nanomanufacturing. The proposed symposia and workshop will greatly enhance the impact of nanomanufacturing research.