Personalized scaffold for bone defect regeneration

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies could be the leverage for the generation of precise and personalized scaffold constructs enabling improved bone regeneration and remodeling outcomes. Our team strives to develop methodologies and generate knowledge that could lead to mechanistic understanding of scaffold-guided bone defect regeneration enabling precision in scaffold-assisted bone regenerative therapy.

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Featured Publications

  • Valainis D, Dondl P, Foehr P, Burgkart R, Kalkhof S, Duda GN, van Griensven M, Poh PSP

    Integrated additive design and manufacturing approach for the bioengineering of bone scaffolds for favorable mechanical and biological properties


    Additive manufacturing (AM) presents the possibility of personalized bone scaffolds with unprecedented structural and functional designs. In contrast to the earlier conventional design concepts, e.g., raster-angle, a workflow was established to produce scaffolds with triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) architecture. A core challenge is the realization of such structures using melt-extrusion based 3D printing. This study presents methods for generation of scaffold design files, finite element analysis of scaffold Young's moduli, AM of scaffolds with polycaprolactone (PCL), and a customized in vitro assay to evaluate cell migration. The reliability of FE analysis when using computer-aided designed models as input may be impeded by anomalies introduced into the scaffolds during 3D printing. Further investigation using micro-computed tomography reconstructions of printed scaffolds as an input for numerical simulation in comparison to experimentally obtained scaffold Young's moduli showed a moderate trend (R2 = 0.62). Interestingly, in a preliminary cell migration assay, adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (AdMSC) migrated furthest on PCL scaffolds with Diamond, followed by Gyroid and Schwarz P architectures. A similar trend, but with an accelerated AdMSC migration rate, was observed for PCL scaffolds surface coated with calcium-phosphate-based apatite. We elaborate on the importance of start-to-finish integration of all steps of AM, i.e. design, engineering and manufacturing. Using such a workflow, specific biological and mechanical functionality, e.g., improved regeneration via enhanced cell migration and higher structural integrity, may be realized for scaffolds intended as temporary guiding structures for endogenous tissue regeneration.

    Biomed Mater 2019;

  • Poh PSP., Valainis D, Bhattacharya K, van Griensven M, Dondl P

    Optimization of Bone Scaffold Porosity Distributions


    Additive manufacturing (AM) is a rapidly emerging technology that has the potential to produce personalized scaffolds for tissue engineering applications with unprecedented control of structural and functional design. Particularly for bone defect regeneration, the complex coupling of biological mechanisms to the scaffolds' properties has led to a predominantly trial-and-error approach. To mitigate this, shape or topology optimization can be a useful tool to design a scaffold architecture that matches the desired design targets, albeit at high computational cost. Here, we consider an efficient macroscopic optimization routine based on a simple one-dimensional time-dependent model for bone regeneration in the presence of a bioresorbable polymer scaffold. The result of the optimization procedure is a scaffold porosity distribution which maximizes the stiffness of the scaffold and regenerated bone system over the entire regeneration time, so that the propensity for mechanical failure is minimized.

    Sci Rep 2019; 9(1):9170.


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