3D-printing of hydrogels for tissue engineering applications

Bone disorders reduce the quality of life of patients, since they lead

to pain, limited functionality and discomfort. The occurrence of these

injuries is related to age, trauma and lifestyle. However, current

treatments suffer from high failure rates and in most cases donor

tissue is needed. In addition, the “one-size-fits-all” medicine is

evolving to personalized medicine, since the response to treatments

varies for each person. Recent advances in tissue engineering and

regenerative medicine show the potential to fabricate scaffolds which

can be exploited in cell culturing applications for investigations in

personalized medicine. Nevertheless, the upscaling and

reproducibility of the scaffolds using classic fabrication techniques,

such as freeze-drying and solvent casting, remains a challenge.

Besides, these methods fail to deliver the desired control over

porosity and internal architecture of the scaffolds. Hence, this project

aims at developing a novel manufacturing process for biomimetic

scaffolds from collagen inks using Aerosol Jet® printing, a highaccuracy

additive manufacturing technique which allows for a full

control over the topology of the printed structures. Collagen inks

incorporated with nano-particles will be developed, followed by the

printing of complex 3D engineered structures. To evaluate the

potential use of the printed structures as scaffolds for cell-based

approaches, their biocompatibility and ability to guide cell growth in

vitro will be assessed.