Our approach
Tissue engineering may be broadly defined as the
application of scientific and engineering principles to the design, construction,
modification, growth and maintenance of living tissues. Engineering tissues and organs
with mammalian cells and a scaffolding material is a new approach in contrast to the use
of harvested tissues and organs. In the tissue engineering approach, the scaffold plays a
pivotal role in cell seeding, proliferation and new tissue formation in three dimensions.
This approach proposes to use microengineering techniques to create regular, 3D geometric
(layered) structures on a silicon substrate and facilitate 3T3 fibroblast adhesion and
proliferation through the use of growth factors. The microengineered structure may also be
used as a ‘master’ over which a biodegradable liquid prepolymer is cast to form
an elastomeric stamp that is a key component in soft lithography. Microengineered structures used
for fundamental studies on tissue repair are required to be highly contoured 3-dimensional
matrix substances. These consist of a biodegradable or biocompatible base supporting
complex 3D structures that stimulate more in-vivo like tissue regeneration.
Details
The microengineered substrates are fabricated using techniques adapted from the
microelectronics sector combined with subsequent thin film coating processes. This
produces biocompatible microstructures, which in turn are used as scaffolds for
micro-cellular growth. Since cell dimensions (> 50µm) are much larger than typical
sizes encountered in microelectronic devices, novel processes have been utilised to
generate high aspect ratio microstructures (HARMS) using photosensitive resins and
multi-layering techniques. Materials such as porous biodegradable polymers (PLA and PGA)
are of particular interest as scaffold material and will also be utilised in this study.
The porous nature of these materials enables blood capillaries to penetrate and
vascularise the growing tissue thus increasing the chance of tissue survival.
