Cell-loaded microgels as mechanical protection and controlled microenvironment for cells in bioinks (A06)

本项目的目标是制备尺寸均匀的细胞负载微凝胶，并将其作为生物墨水的添加剂。微凝胶一方面应起到在印刷过程中防止剪切力的机械保护作用，从而将生物制造窗口扩展到粘度较高的生物墨水和剪切力较高的生物墨水。此外，还应使用生化功能化和调节微凝胶降解性来定制微囊化细胞的微环境并控制其行为。展望未来，本项目旨在建立细胞负载微凝胶的悬浮液作为生物墨水，特别是用于同时打印不同类型的细胞。

Aim of this project is the generation of cell-loaded microgels with uniform size and their establishment as additives in bioinks. The microgels shall on the one side act as mechanical protection from shearforces during printing and thereby extend the biofabrication window towards bioinks with higher viscosity and towards higher shear forces. In addition to that, biochemical functionalization and adjusting microgel degradability shall be used to tailor the microenvironment of the encapsulated cells and control their behavior. Prospectively, this project aims at establishing suspensions of cell-loaded microgels as bioink especially for the simultaneous printing of different cell types.