Abstract

Coined Scaffold Fabrication for 3D Cell Culture Using Near-field Electrohydrodynamic Jetting

Jie Sun, Associate Professor, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

We aim to use novel near-field electrospinning (EHD-jetting) process to revolutionize the current scaffold fabrication process by creating coiled scaffold structure. To fabricate micro/nano structures for soft tissue repair and 3D cell culture in regenerative medicine, tremendous efforts have been made to improve fiber based scaffold fabrication. Traditional fiber fabrication methods, such as fused deposition modelling method and extrusion method, are only capable to produce low resolution and large diameter ranging from 180-1000 µm. In our research, we aim to use novel near-field electrospinning (EHD-jetting) process to revolutionize the current scaffold fabrication process by creating coiled scaffold structure. The EHD-jetting system presents a significant advantage of patterning and orientating fibers in a controllable manner. We can adopt this methods to fabricate self-similar coiled structures that are used in stretchable structures, which will increase the stretchability significantly, provide larger tensile force, larger contact area compared with the grid scaffold structure at the same size. That would be useful to improve the current soft tissue design with improved mechanical strength and prompt cell-scaffold interaction.