Hydrogel Templates for Rapid Manufacturing of Bioactive Fibers and 3D Constructs

• DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201500492
• Publication Date: 2015-08-25T08:49:45Z
• Authors: Ali Tamayol; Alireza Hassani N...; Bahar Aliakbarian; Elmira Arab‐Tehrany; Mohsen Akbari; Nasim Annabi; David Juncker; Ali Khademhosseini
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Medical Biotechnology; Biomedical Engineering; Bioengineering; 02 engineering and technology; [SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio]; Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry; 03 medical and health sciences; 13. Climate action; tissue engineering; sacrificial polymeric networks; fiber-based methods; 0210 nano-technology; bioprinting; cell-laden fibers

Hydrogel templates are formed to entrap various pre-polymers prior to their crosslinking process. Upon the completion of the crosslinking process, an independent polymer network with the same fiber geometry is formed. The hydrogel template can be removed if necessary. As the proof-of-principle, fibers from various polymers are fabricated. The fabricated hybrid polymeric fibers are bioactive and can be bioprinted or assembled using textile processes. The approach can be used for creating complex 3D constructs for various applications.