Camila Cortez

Visiting student (National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina)

Fabrication of Organic-Inorganic Sandwich Scaffolds Using Melt Electrowriting and Electrospinning Methods for Bone Tissue Engineering

 

Supervisors: Dr. Irem Unalan, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Bone tissue engineering (BTE) is a critical field in tissue engineering responsible for developing strategies to regenerate diseased or damaged bones [1]. These strategies aim to stimulate the body’s natural healing response [2]. A crucial element in BTE is the scaffold, which consists of three-dimensional (3D) synthetic porous structures that integrate both organic and inorganic components. This project aims to design sandwich scaffolds by using electrospinning and melt electrowriting

(MEW) techniques. While electrospinning is the most widely used method for generating uniform nanofibers through the application of electrostatic forces [3], MEW is a novel additive manufacturing technique that combines electrospinning with 3D printing, enabling the creation of complex structures through software-guided designs [4]. This project will analyse the physical, mechanical, chemical, and biological properties of hierarchical composite scaffolds to investigate their potential for BTE.

[1] Alex, Y., Vincent, S., Divakaran, N., Uthappa, U. T., Srinivasan, P., Mubarak, S., Al-Harthi, M. A., & Dhamodharan, D. (2023). Pioneering bone regeneration: A review of cutting-edge scaffolds in tissue engineering. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A, 111(2), 567-579.

[2] Canales, D. A., Piñones, N., Saavedra, M., Loyo, C., Palza, H., Peponi, L., Leonés, A., Vallejos Baier, R., Boccaccini, A. R., Grünelwald, A., & Zapata, P. A. (2022). Fabrication and assessment of bifunctional electrospun poly(l-lactic acid) scaffolds with bioglass and zinc oxide nanoparticles for bone tissue engineering. Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 34(4), 1234-1245.

[3] Croitoru, A.-M., Ficai, D., Ficai, A., Mihailescu, N., Andronescu, E., & Turculet, S.C. (2020) Nanostructured Fibers Containing Natural or Synthetic Bioactive Compounds in Wound Dressing Applications. Materials, 13, 2407.

[4] Unalan, I., Occhipinti, I., Miola, M., Vernè, E., & Boccaccini, A.R. (2023). Development of super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-coated melt electrowritten scaffolds for biomedical applications. Macromolecular Bioscience, 23(12), 1234-1245