Lukas Esper

Master student

Printability and Cell Study of different pre-crosslinked alginate based bioinks

 

Supervisors: Jonas Hazur, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini

In the field of biofabrication, polymer-based hydrogels present an ideal scaffold in terms of biocompatibility and biodegradability. Alginates derived from algae have been often used as raw material for hydrogel production. They can form hydrogels in the presence of divalent cations, which own similar characteristics as the extracellular matrix of human tissues. In particular, oxidized alginates came to the fore of research as they possess enhanced biodegradability compared to unmodified alginate hydrogels [1].
The goal of biofabrication is to build up scaffolds with immobilized cells in a one-step process. The advantages over conventional cell seeding approaches are the homogenous distribution and higher cell loading efficiency, because of the direct connection between cells and scaffold material. It is obvious that the requirements for a material in this direct cell-plotting process are high. The incorporated cells should migrate, proliferate and differentiate inside the matrix after the plotting process [2].
The aim of this research project is to plot different types of pre-crosslinked alginate based hydrogels exploiting different mechanisms. Apart from printability, the main focus will be on the cell viability and compatibility of immobilized cells inside the bioplotted constructs. Additionally, other material based characteristics will be studied.

[1] S. Reakasame and A. R. Boccaccini, “Oxidized Alginate-Based Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications : A Review,” Biomacromolecules 19, pp. 3-21, 2018.

[2] T. Zehnder, B. Sarker, A. R. Boccaccini, and R. Detsch, “Evaluation of an alginate – gelatine crosslinked hydrogel for bioplotting Evaluation of an alginate – gelatine crosslinked hydrogel for bioplotting,” Biofabrication, 7, p. 25001, 2015,.