3D printing of novel hydrogel containing bone implants

 

Investigator: Vera Bednarzig (PhD student)Vera Bednarzig

Ulrich-Schalk-Straße 3
91056 Erlangen

Raum 01.112

Tel.: 09131 85-69609

email: vera.bednarzig@fau.de

 

Supervisors: Dr. R. Detsch, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Aldo R. Boccaccini

 

Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques can be used to generate scaffolds for the replacement or repair of damaged or diseased human tissue or organs. There are different AM techniques which are used commonly, whereas one of the most popular ones is 3D bioplotting [1]. With this technique a wide range of different materials are printable, even hydrogels. Over the last decades hydrogels have revealed great potential in the field of medicine. They build, through the absorption of water, a soft structure, which can be printed also in combination with cells in biofabrication approaches [2]. Due to their excellent biological properties, hydrogels are applied in this project to develop new biomedical devices. The aim of the project is to develop an implant that replaces damaged bone through the combination of hydrogels with different rigid or hard materials.This project is a collaboration of the Institute of Biomaterials with industrial and academic partners.

[1] Billiet T, Vandenhaute M, Schelfhout J et al. (2012) A review of trends and limitations in hydrogel rapid prototyping for tissue engineering. Biomaterials 33(26): 6020–6041.

[2] Annabi N, Tamayol A, Uquillas JA et al. (2014) 25th Anniversary Article: Rational Design and Applications of Hydrogels in Regenerative Medicine. Adv. Mater. 26(1): 85–124.