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Engineering biomaterials at the nanoscale

By 3 de September de 2013November 18th, 2020No Comments
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Interactionsof cells (appearing as red) with a caffold made from the new fibres. Image: IBEC.
 03.09.2013

Engineering biomaterials at the nanoscale

IBEC researchers, based in the PCB, have come up with a groundbreaking new approach to create a tough, biodegradable, bioactive and entirely new material, heralding a major milestone in the production of artificial matrices for tissue engineering. The group's new protocol offers a promising and versatile approach. It has possibilities in a broad range of biomedical applications that require well-defined, hierarchically engineered biomaterials with well-defined features, such as bone, vascular, skin or nervous tissue regeneration.


In a letter published today in the Royal Society Journal Interface (), the Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group describes a new, easy and cheap method for producing glass-coated fibrous scaffolds which not only faithfully mimic the extracellular matrix of bone, but also aim to direct stem cell fate through physical and chemical interactions.

“We did it the other way around, thus avoiding the usual problems that include lack of cell adhesion and too-fast degradation,” explains Nadège. “Working from previously published knowledge about the different components, we have managed to coordinate dissimilar compounds with different features in a synergic hierarchical device”. For example, in a bike, each separate material – the rubber tyres, the metal or plastic body, the upholstered seat – fit and work together, while each has an inherent role to play to accomplish the overall function: safe and fast motion, with an excellent cost-efficiency ratio.

“The core of the fibres is polylactic acid, a well-known biodegradable polymer, which acts as a flexible foundation and gives the coated fibers, which look like Japanese tempura, tailorable surface characteristics,” she says. “They also interact well with the biological environment. In the longer term, they aim to trigger specific cellular responses; in other words, they will provide the right chemical signals, topography, and mechanical properties to the cells to promote differentiation into a particular cell lineage, therefore stimulating the formation of new tissue. The resulting fibres are fully biodegradable, and will eventually be entirely replaced by the naturally regenerated tissue.”