High resolution, multi-material deposition of tissue engineering scaffolds

下一代健康治疗的变化将是人工植入物与患者自身细胞的结合，以取代患病或受损的组织和器官。在药物研究方面也将有发展，通过在体外建立模拟某些身体系统的复杂组织模型。有了这些模型，我们将能够减少对动物试验的需求，并更深入地了解药物对细胞功能的影响。为了进行这些变化，需要一种制造技术，可以适应更广泛的生物材料选择，结合在特征尺寸，结构和功能方面的复杂性。该项目旨在开发一种新的生物材料制造技术，该技术可以以可控、可扩展的方式将不同的材料元素加工成相当大的支架。该配置将被定制以适合生物材料的最终反应动力学。该技术将表现出（a）纤维结构的亚微米打印分辨率（相对于现有3-D打印的数十微米），（B）共同打印纤维组分和间隙凝胶组分的能力，（c）适合于大规模制造大量生物材料库而不需要修改天然材料化学。最终，这种新的生物材料制造技术将使多功能生物材料支架的可再生，自动化的创建，以支持软组织再生。据信，所提出的技术将促进个性化支架部件的制造，从而使公众能够获得更有效的治疗。

The next generational change in health treatment will be the tailoring of artificial implants in combination with a patient's own cells to replace diseased or damaged tissues and organs. There will also be development in drug research through the creation of complex tissue models in vitro that mimic certain body systems. With these models we will be able to reduce the need for animal testing and provide a deeper understanding of the impact of drugs on cell function. To undertake these changes, one requires a fabrication technique that can accommodate a wider choice of biomaterials, combined with delivery of complexity in terms of feature size, structure and functionalities. This project aims to develop a new biomaterial fabrication technique which can process different material elements into a sizable scaffold in a controllable, scalable manner. The configuration will be tailored to fit the ultimate reaction kinetics of the biomaterial. This technique will exhibit (a) a sub-micron printing resolution of fibrous structures (vs. tens of micron of the existing 3-D printing), (b) ability to co-print both fibrous components and interstitial gel components, (c) suitability for scaled-up fabrication of a vast biomaterial library without needing to modify the native material chemistry. Ultimately, this new biomaterial fabrication technique will enable the reproducible, automated creation of multi-functional biomaterial scaffolds to support soft tissue regeneration. It is believed that the proposed technique will facilitate the fabrication of personalised scaffold parts, thus enabling more effective treatment available to the general public.