Digital manufacturing of porous functionally graded hydrogels bearing function-encoding peptides
Cyfrowa produkcja porowatych funkcjonalnych hydrożeli gradientowych zawierających peptydy kodujące funkcje
- Principal Investigator
- MSc Maria Celeste Tirelli
- Project number
- 2024/53/N/ST5/02609
- Project duration
- 3 February 2025 – 3 February 2027
- Project value
- 134 200 PLN
About the project
This project aims to develop innovative strategies for the design and digital manufacturing of 3D porous functionally graded hydrogels (pFGHs) with spatially controlled biochemical and biophysical properties. By combining microfluidics with advanced 3D printing technologies, the research focuses on creating biomimetic scaffolds capable of reproducing the structural complexity of the osteochondral interface. Particular attention is dedicated to the development of tailored bioinks containing function-encoding peptides designed to direct mesenchymal stem cell differentiation toward osteogenic and chondrogenic phenotypes. The project also involves the fabrication of custom microfluidic printing heads to achieve precise control over pore architecture, material composition, and gradient distribution within the scaffold. Through the integration of bioactive materials, controlled microarchitectures, and digital manufacturing, the resulting constructs are expected to closely mimic the extracellular matrix of native tissues. A major objective of this work is to establish a versatile biofabrication platform for the production of engineered tissue interfaces with enhanced biological functionality and structural organization. Ultimately, this research aims to introduce a new method of biofabrication of tissue interfaces, which will enable cell differentiation and tissue regeneration.
Publications
Microfluidic-mixer assisted 3D printing of functionally graded multimaterial hydrogels for engineering complex tissue interfaces
Materials Advances • 2026
DOI / Link