3D bioprinted hydrogel models for the study and treatment of human liver disease

研究纳米纤维网增强的3D生物打印血管分支的全额资助博士研究生。这是一个标准的3.5年英国博士学位。缺乏血管化是生物打印功能器官的主要瓶颈。本项目旨在开发一种由动脉、静脉和输尿管组成的血管树，用于人工肾脏的发育。学生将学习如何操作我们的新型自制混合3D生物打印机，它结合了水凝胶打印和静电纺丝。该学生将为静电纺丝和生物打印水凝胶制作聚合物溶液，并与细胞培养一起工作。生成的混合结构将通过显微镜技术（扫描电镜，共聚焦激光扫描显微镜，荧光显微镜等）和评估机械性能来表征。在项目中，学生将使用最先进的表征技术。一半的工作将在瑞士圣加仑的瑞士联邦材料科学与技术实验室（Empa）进行，这是一个属于ETH领域的材料研究所（瑞士联邦理工学院）。

Fully-funded PhD studentship on 3D bioprinted vascular branches reinforced with nanofibre mesh. This is a standard 3.5-year UK PhD. The lack of vascularization is the main bottleneck of bioprinting functional organs. This project aims at developing a vascular tree consisting of arteries, veins, and ureter, for artificial kidney development. The student will learn how to operate our novel home-built hybrid 3D bioprinter, which combines hydrogel printing with electrospinning. The student will make polymeric solutions for electrospinning and for bioprinting hydrogels, and work with cell cultures. The generated hybrid structures will be characterized by microscopy techniques (SEM, confocal laser scanning microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, etc.) and by assessing the mechanical performance. Within the project the student will use state-of-the-art characterization techniques. Half of the work will be carried out at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) in St. Gallen, Switzerland, a material research institute belonging to the ETH domain (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).