Bioprinter with electrospinning printhead

制造由嵌入基质中的纤维制成的复合生物材料并用活细胞接种这些材料的能力在组织工程领域具有许多应用。该提案要求购买用于熔融电纺丝-书写的套件、细胞友好打印头、生物安全柜和其他组件，以升级现有的增材制造系统，用于：（i）制造具有不同取向和配置的集成纤维的细胞接种材料;（ii）制造具有功能粘弹性梯度的细胞接种材料;和（3）具有模拟微血管形成的多孔结构的支架的制造。所要求的设备将提高现有生物打印机的能力，该生物打印机由共同申请人之一（Hoesli博士）利用加拿大创新基金会以及魁北克自然与技术基金会的财政支持获得，作为一个多功能设施，支持来自不同学科的八名麦吉尔研究人员之间的合作研究。 8位合作者在开发和应用增材制造到生物和医疗应用方面有着共同的愿景。 其中两名研究人员担任加拿大研究主席。 三是新的调查人员。在过去的六年里，研究人员总共发表了200多篇档案期刊出版物。组织工程学的重大进展的潜力是巨大的。该基础设施将有助于制造形态准确的移植物，假体或植入物，这些移植物将具有复合微结构，并将在功能上进行分级，以更好地模拟其宿主环境。众所周知，仿生环境对于工程化组织构建的成功是必不可少的。设想用于声带、血管、骨骼、指甲、牙齿、皮肤、膀胱、胰腺和其他硬组织和软组织的应用。随着生物材料和AM技术的最新进展，目前对生物打印的兴趣激增。建议的仪器是建立三维仿生模型的组织工程。所提出的生物打印机在灵活性和模块化方面是独一无二的，并且是目前唯一支持AM喷嘴和静电纺丝喷嘴集成的平台。研究人员迫切需要所提出的设备：（1）创建生物力学模拟器官的水凝胶;（2）粘合不同的材料;（3）研究具有粘弹性梯度的水凝胶中的机械转导;（4）血管化基于水凝胶的组织工程构建物;和（5）免疫调节水凝胶。预计所要求的设备将在组织工程增材制造应用方面对大量HQP进行教育方面发挥协同作用。

The ability to fabricate composite biomaterials made of fibers imbedded into a matrix and seed these materials with live cells has many applications in the field of tissue engineering. This proposal requests the purchasing of a kit for melt electrospinning-writing, a cell friendly print-head, a biosafety cabinet and other components to upgrade an existing additive manufacturing system for: (i) fabrication of cell-seeded materials with integrated fibers having different orientations and configurations; (ii) the fabrication of cell-seeded materials with functional viscoelasticity gradients; and (3) the fabrication of scaffolds with a porous structure mimicking microvascularization. The requested equipment will improve the capabilities of an existing bioprinter, acquired by one of the co-applicants (Dr. Hoesli) using financial support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation as well as the Fonds Nature et Technologie du Quebec, to serve as an enabling multifunctional facility to support collaborative research among eight McGill investigators from different disciplines. The 8 collaborators share a common vision in developing and applying additive manufacturing to biological and medical applications. Two of the investigators hold a Canada Research Chair. Three are new investigators. Collectively, the investigators have published over 200 archival journal publications over the past six years. The potential for major advances in tissue engineering is significant. The infrastructure will help fabricate morphologically accurate grafts, prostheses or implants that will have a composite microstructure and will be functionally graded to better biomechanically mimic their host environment. It is well known that a biomimetic environment is essential for engineered tissue constructs to be successful. Applications for vocal folds, blood vessels, bones, nails, teeth, skin, bladder, pancreas, and other hard and soft tissues are envisioned. There is an explosion of interest for bioprinting at the present time following recent advances in biomaterials and AM technology. The proposed instrument is to create three-dimensional organomimetic models for tissue engineering. The proposed bioprinter is unique in its flexibility and modularity, and the only platform available at the present time that supports the integration of AM nozzles and electrospinning nozzles. The proposed equipment is critically needed for the investigators to: (1) create hydrogels mimicking organs biomechanically; (2) bond dissimilar materials; (3) investigate mechanotransduction in hydrogels with viscoelastic gradients; (4) vascularize hydrogel-based tissue engineered constructs; and (5) immunomodulate hydrogels. It is anticipated that the requested equipment will play a synergetic role in educating a large number of HQPs on additive manufacturing applications in tissue engineering.