3D printing of scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

This project aims to develop multifunctional novel bioactive tissue scaffolds using 3D printing, biomaterials science and controlled drug delivery systems to enhance tissue regeneration. Tissue scaffolds are 3D structures that mimic natural tissues’ architecture and support cell growth and differentiation. While tremendous progress has been made in developing scaffolds, developing tissue scaffolds for interfacial tissues such as osteochondral tissue is still challenging.3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, continues to attract attention in the tissue engineering community for its flexibility and customisability. Compared to conventional manufacturing processes, 3D printing has the advantage of fabricating 3D constructs to produce personalised tissue engineering scaffolds with controllable complex geometries to directly match the natural tissue.Applicants will be required to demonstrate their experience in mechanical engineering, bioengineering, medical engineering, or any other related fields, understanding of engineering design, design optimisation, and engineering materials. Knowledge of experimental methods of using 3D printing is desirable.

References

Zhang, B., Huang, J. and Narayan, R.J., 2020. Gradient scaffolds for osteochondral tissue engineering and regeneration. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 8(36), pp.8149-8170.Zhang, B., Guo, L., Chen, H., Ventikos, Y., Narayan, R.J. and Huang, J., 2020. Finite element evaluations of the mechanical properties of polycaprolactone/hydroxyapatite scaffolds by direct ink writing: Effects of pore geometry. Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, 104, p.103665.Zhang, B., Gleadall, A., Belton, P., Mcdonagh, T., Bibb, R. and Qi, S., 2021. New insights into the effects of porosity, pore length, pore shape and pore alignment on drug release from extrusion based additive manufactured pharmaceuticals. Additive Manufacturing, 46, p.102196.

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