Fluidic Assembly of Hierarchical Soft Materials and Devices

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Additive manufacturing approaches have gained broad interest in the context of a variety of very different applications. One of the most challenging yet unmet goals with widespread technological applications is the additive assembly of natural biopolymers in ways that resemble their hierarchical, multiscale organization in living systems. My proposed research program aims at systematically studying the interplay between the different transport processes responsible for the flowable preparation of aligned biopolymeric planar and tubular constructs with very large aspect ratios (>3,000) and unusually high tensile properties (Young's modulus >10MPa). Much of the work initially focuses on collagens but is more broadly applicable to different fibrillar biopolymers. We will utilize a combination of analytical and numerical approaches in combination with in situ experiments to quantitatively assess the relevant time scales for the individual flow, transport and assembly processes, and their scaling behavior. We aim at utilizing the gained understanding to further increase the Young's modulus of the aligned sheets by at least tenfold. By integrating aligned sheet formation with additive manufacturing approaches we aim for the first time to routinely form centimeter-scale, hollow and load bearing structures from protein-based biomaterials. We will develop robust and massively scalable biohybrid fluidic interfaces that will allow the consistent external perfusion as well as the (internal) self-perfusion of biopolymeric structures and their assemblies.