Yichen He

Fabrication of Soft/Hard-Phase Scaffolds for Osteochondral Tissue Engineering

 

Supervisor: Hannah Kissel, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Dr. h.c. Aldo R. Boccaccini

Osteochondral tissue regeneration requires scaffolds that have both mechanical strength and biological functionality to support the regeneration of cartilage and subchondral bone. In biofabrication, hybrid scaffolds composed of cell-laden hydrogel constructs mechanically supported by a thermoplastic structure have shown great potential to meet these dual needs [1]. In this project, a soft/hard phase composite scaffold consisting a hydrogel blend for cell encapsulation and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) based composite for mechanical support will be developed and characterised. With focus on the hard phase in this project, mesoporous bioactive glass nanoparticles will be incorporated in the thermoplastic matrix to improve the mechanical strength of PCL and to create an ion releasing platform to stimulate both chondrogenesis and osteogenesis [2,3]. The performance of the soft/hard phase scaffold will be evaluated through physicochemical and biological analyses.

[1] Zehnder, T., et al., Fabrication of Cell-Loaded Two-Phase 3D Constructs for Tissue Engineering, Materials, 9 (2016) 887,  https://doi.org/10.3390/ma9110887

[2] Wu, Y., et al., A Bi-Lineage Conducive Scaffold for Osteochondral Defect Regeneration, Adv. Funct. Mater., 24 (2014) 4473–4483, https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201304304.

[3] Li, S., A. L. B. Macon, M. Jacquemin, M. M. Stevens, and J. R. Jones., Sol-Gel Derived Lithium-Releasing Glass for Cartilage Regeneration, J Biomater Appl 32, no. 1 (Jul 2017): 104–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885328217706640.