Development of Hybrid Microfabrication Techniques for Biomedical Applications

Latest tissue engineering strategies for musculoskeletal tissues regeneration focus on creating a biomimetic microenvironment closely resembling the natural topology of extracellular matrix. Proceeding work presents a novel meniscus tissue scaffold fabricated by a hybrid additive manufacturing technology to closely resemble the natural topology of extracellular matrix. A skeletal scaffold was 3D printed and a layer of random or aligned polycaprolactone and collagen nanofibers were embedded between two frames. A compression test was performed to study the mechanical properties of the system. Human osteosarcoma cells were cultured in the scaffold for 7 days to evaluate the effect of scaffold microstructure on cell growth. With reinforced nanofibers, the hybrid scaffold showed superior compression strength compared to 3D printed scaffold without nanofibers. The hybrid scaffold induced the cells to organize into an aligned structure. The study shows the potential of hybrid bio fabrication process to be developed as a scalable platform for biomimetic scaffolds with patterned fibrous microstructure. It will facilitate future development of clinical solutions for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration. Integration of nanomaterials in microfluidic devices has emerged as a new research paradigm. Microfluidic devices composed of ZnO nanowires have been developed for the collection of urine extracellular vesicles (EVs) at high efficiency and in situ extraction of various microRNAs (miRNAs). The devices can be used for diagnosing various disease including kidney diseases and cancers. One of the research needs for developing micro-total-analysis systems is to enhance extraction efficiency. This paper presents a novel fabrication method for a herringbone patterned microfluidic device anchored with ZnO nanowire arrays. The substrates with herringbone patterns were created by maskless photolithography. The ZnO nanowire arrays were grown on the substrates by chemical bathing. The patterned design was to introduce spiral circulation as opposed to laminar flow in traditional devices to increase the mixing and contact of the urine sample with ZnO nanowires.

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