Fabrication of complex biomaterial scaffolds for tissue engineering by...

• Date
  Mon, Feb 11

  Time
  2:00 PM — 3:15 PM

  Address
  Steinman Hall
  ST 160 - Lecture Hall
  

  Location
  Steinman Hall, 160 - Lecture Hall

  p: 212.650.5748

  Admission
  Free

• Event Details

  The Chemical Engineering Department would like to welcome Aaron Goldstein from Virginia Tech

  TOPIC: Fabrication of complex biomaterial scaffolds for tissue engineering by electrospinning
  
  ABSTRACT: The human body contains numerous orthopaedic tissues that are marked spatially gradients of mechanical properties, extracellular matrix composition, and cell phenotype.  The bone-to-ligament transition, in particular, exhibits a sharp transition from a compliant fibrous tissue to a hard mineralized tissue that is critical for efficient load transmission without strain concentrations.  However, such a transition is not necessarily recapitulated in surgical reconstruction of ruptured ligaments.  Over the past decade, my laboratory has been interested in the micro-fiber topographies that are produced by the electrospinning process and their impact on the morphology and phenotype of adhesion-dependent mammalian cells.  Initially, we began looking at whether these morphologies could be conducive to bone and ligament formation separately, and have more recently we have endeavored to create electrospun materials that exhibit spatial gradients in micro-architecture, surface chemistry, and mechanical properties.  This presentation will show how such graded materials can be constructed, describe their chemical and mechanical properties, and discuss how mesenchymal stem cells – that have the capacity to differentiate into various orthopaedic tissues – behave on these materials.  Next, a strategy will be presented for processing these materials into three-dimensional structures for ligament reconstruction.  Finally, our ongoing efforts to incorporate biologically active factors within these electrospun materials will be described.