New Polymeric Biomaterial Inks for 3-D Printing

非技术性：该奖项由罗格斯大学材料研究部的生物材料项目颁发，旨在设计用于3D打印应用的新型生物材料‘墨水’。这项拟议的研究旨在解决与目前3D可打印生物降解材料的限制相关的关键挑战。3D打印可以帮助准备具有高度结构复杂性和设计灵活性的患者专用设备。目前，用于不同应用的3D可打印材料缺乏多样性，从而限制了其广泛使用，特别是在生物医学应用中。该项目将专注于开发用于熔融沉积、建模和溶剂型打印的新型3D可打印生物降解聚合物‘墨水’。这项研究将提供具有可调机械性能、降解性、生物活性和生物兼容性的聚合物墨水，以开发可能用于组织工程和再生医学的材料。该项目涵盖多学科研究领域，为各级学生提供培训机会。此外，还将开发为本科生量身定做的项目，为他们提供这项研究的实践实验室经验。技术：这项提议的总体目标是创建一个具有可调功能的新聚合物库，如降解和机械性能，可用于制备3D支架和装置。该提案由四个主要部分组成：(I)基于酪氨酸衍生聚碳酸酯和酪醇衍生聚酯的新型聚合物文库的设计和合成；(Ii)表征新聚合物的性能和印刷性能；(Iii)展示可调的聚合物性能，如降解和相互独立控制的力学性能；以及(Iv)评估这些生物材料在3D打印方面的应用。这项拟议的研究将解决材料科学的主要挑战，并有望产生一种用于生物医学应用的新型可打印聚合物。具有降解和力学等可调功能的3D可打印、可生物降解聚合物文库的开发将扩大3D打印作为组织工程生物活性材料制备方法的使用。

Non-technical: This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research to Rutgers University is to design novel biomaterial 'inks' for 3D printing applications. The proposed research is aiming to address key challenges associated with current limitations in 3D printable biodegradable materials. 3D printing could help in the preparation of patient-specific devices with high structural complexity and design flexibility. At present, there is a lack of diversity in 3D printable materials for different applications, and hence limiting the widespread use, particularly in biomedical applications. This project will focus on developing novel 3D printable biodegradable polymer 'inks' for fused deposition, modeling and solvent-based printing. This study will provide polymer 'inks' with tunable mechanical properties, degradation, bioactivity and biocompatibility to develop materials for possible tissue engineering applications and regenerative medicine. This project covers a multi-disciplinary research area, providing opportunities in training of students at all levels. In addition, projects tailored for undergraduate students will be developed providing them with hands-on laboratory experience with this study. Technical: The overall objective of this proposal is to create a library of new polymers with tunable functionality such as degradation and mechanical properties that could be used in the preparation of 3D scaffolds and devices. The proposal is composed of four major parts: (i) design and synthesis of novel polymer libraries based on tyrosine-derived polycarbonates and tyrosol-derived polyesters; (ii) characterize the properties and printability of the new polymers; (iii) demonstrate tunable polymer properties such as degradation, and mechanics that are controlled independently of each other; and (iv) evaluate application of these biomaterials for 3D printing. The proposed study will address major materials science challenges, and is expected to result in a new class of printable polymers for biomedical applications. The development of libraries of 3D printable, biodegradable polymers with tunable functionality such as degradation and mechanics will extend the use of 3D printing as a method for the preparation of bioactive materials for tissue engineering.