Designing cell-instructieve granular inks for 3D bioprinting

Seymour, Alexis Jane (2023) Designing cell-instructieve granular inks for 3D bioprinting. UNSPECIFIED.

Text (Thesis) SeymourA-Designing-diss-2023.pdf - Published Version Restricted to RUG campus Download (32MB)

Abstract

Hydrogel-based biomaterials have seen widespread use in tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting due to their extensive tunability, which enables the design of matrices with a broad range of application-specific mechanical and biological characteristics. Despite this, the viscoelastic requirements of 3D bioprinting make it difficult to design hydrogel-based biomaterial inks that maintain printability while effectively promoting cell function. Granular hydrogels composed of jammed hydrogel microparticles (termed 'microgels') have recently garnered significant attention for their potential to solve this challenge. As cell culture platforms, granular hydrogels may readily provide microenvironmental signals proven to regulate cell behavior. Meanwhile, the macroscale properties of granular hydrogels naturally tend to meet the viscoelastic requirements of extrusion-based bioprinting. In this thesis, I explore strategies for addressing current limitations in designing biomaterial inks to influence endothelial cell behavior within printed constructs. To that end, I present two families of multi-component granular inks that leverage microgel modularity to achieve desirable printability, microarchitecture, and cell response. Through this work, I demonstrate the potential for modular, microgel-based inks to address longstanding challenges in the bioprinting of functional tissues.

Item Type:	Thesis (UNSPECIFIED)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	3D bioprinting, Bioengineering
Status:	Published
Uncontrolled Keywords:	3D bioprinting, Bioengineering
Date Deposited:	26 Nov 2024 11:28
Last Modified:	26 Nov 2024 11:28
URI:	https://ebooks.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/410

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