New Polymeric Biomaterial Inks for 3-D Printing

非技术：该奖项由罗格斯大学材料研究部生物材料项目颁发，旨在为3D打印应用设计新型生物材料“墨水”。拟议的研究旨在解决与当前3D打印可生物降解材料限制相关的关键挑战。3D打印可以帮助制备具有高结构复杂性和设计灵活性的患者专用设备。目前，针对不同应用的3D打印材料缺乏多样性，因此限制了其广泛使用，特别是在生物医学应用方面。该项目将专注于开发新型3D打印可生物降解聚合物“墨水”，用于熔融沉积、建模和溶剂型打印。这项研究将提供具有可调机械性能、降解、生物活性和生物相容性的聚合物“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，还将为本科生量身定制项目，为他们提供与本研究相关的动手实验经验。技术：该提案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支架和设备。该方案由四个主要部分组成：(i)基于酪氨酸衍生聚碳酸酯和酪氨酸衍生聚酯的新型聚合物库的设计和合成；（ii）表征新聚合物的性能和可印刷性；（iii）展示可调节的聚合物特性，如降解和相互独立控制的力学；（iv）评估这些生物材料在3D打印中的应用。拟议的研究将解决主要的材料科学挑战，并有望产生一类新的生物医学应用的可打印聚合物。具有降解和力学等可调功能的3D打印、可生物降解聚合物库的开发将扩展3D打印作为制备组织工程生物活性材料的方法。

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.