Abstract

DO.23.06

Designing a new generation of tissue engineering scaffolds

Heilshorn S. C.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University

Objective: Currently, tissue engineering relies on the use of either (i) naturally harvested scaffolds that can be challenging to purify and difficult to tailor for specific applications or (ii) chemically synthesized polymeric scaffolds that often are made from cytotoxic components and/or lack the nano- and microscale structure of natural tissue.
Results: To address these limitations, a new approach to biomaterials design involves mimicking the tools of Nature. The materials we design and synthesize are composed of engineered protein polymers created by bacterial hosts. These engineered proteins mimic many of the essential properties of the natural extracellular matrix including integrin binding, cell differentiation, cell migration, and proteolytic remodeling. For example, through a modest 3% change in the chemical identity of five otherwise identical protein materials, we can tune the proteolytic half-life in a controlled and predictable manner over two orders of magnitude. The engineered proteins can be tailored for specific applications to form porous, elastomeric scaffolds; fibrous mats; or injectable, in situ forming hydrogels. To date, applications have focused on cardiovascular and central nervous systems applications, yet these design strategies can be widely extended into ophthalmology.

Copyright: Porstmann Kongresse GmbH. All rights reserved. Impressum, Disclaimer.