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John J. Lannutti
Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Washington, 1990
Tel. (614) 292-3926
Office: 448 MacQuigg Labs
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Tissue Engineering Scaffolds
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Different fiber compositions / diameters produced using electrospinning. "Core-shell" spinning produces 'co-axial' shells of one composition on
the outside of another. |
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Plot of burst pressures from tubular electrospun scaffolds. The 4000 mm Hg
value is a current "world record". |
Tissue engineering has the potential to radically alter the practice of medicine as we know it. Tissue engineering utilizes materials to develop functional tissue or organ substitutes in vitro for implantation in vivo. This strategy must ultimately allow physical and chemical variations that accommodate spatial and functional divergence in evolving tissue structures (see images at right). At the same time they must provide multiscalar (µm to m) mechanical support and physical, chemical, and mechanical cues at the micron level. Once their mission is accomplished, these structures then degrade completely, leaving only biological tissues behind.
To accomplish this, we will depend on electrospinning, a technique having an important role in the future of tissue engineering, combined with laser microfabrication of these electrospun structures. Femtosecond lasers will also allow tight control of relative cell location after cell seeding. This combination will serve as a template for a new class of scaffolds showing promise for optimized tissue regeneration even in harsh biological environments. Such novel, constructs require determination of their mechanical properties to ensure that they meet demanding clinical standards. Study of their microstructural response to mechanical stresses and degradation will better establish the related manufacturing needed to optimize the resulting biology.
Cell-based Biodevices
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Biodevice designed using highly porous fibers produced by electrospinning.
Large porosity allows the full-thickness seeding of chondrocytes as shown. |
Nanoscaled structures can provide unique in vitro environments encouraging specific developments in mammalian cells. We use funding from the National Science Foundation to create opportunities for a new class of next-generation devices that allow embedded cells to ÔtalkÕ to each other biochemically. This exchange is key for improvements in biological behavior and can lead to the manufacture of complex, multi-scalar, bioinspired Ôbiodevices.Õ The purpose of these biodevices is to provide novel quantitative outputs of biological activity while at the same time providing short cuts that generate tissue-engineered products more efficiently. In contrast with the overaching goals of tissue engineering, however, these devices are valuable in clinical and general biology applications without implantation. These devices consist of physically defined, multicellular environments. Their unique outputs include cellular motion (in microns/hr), localized drug or gene delivery, highly efficient transfection environments and unique multicellular environments that create optimal cell-cell interactions.
