When: Wednesday 15 March 2023, 12.00-13.00h
Where: sitem-insel, Auditorium Felix Frey
Abstract:
Recent technological advances have witnessed the development of various 3D in vitro tissue models for disease modeling and drug testing without the need for animal experimentation. Despite important progress, in vitro generation of mm-scale human musculoskeletal tissues that faithfully mimic the structural and functional complexity of their in vivo counterparts remains a substantial challenge. This is largely due to the lack of advanced cell culture techniques that allow exquisite control of cell-cell and cell-material interactions in a 3D microenvironment. In this seminar, I would present our efforts in developing advanced photoresponsive hydrogels and light-assisted 3D bioprinting techniques to create functional bone tissue models across length scales in the laboratory. Specifically, I will highlight these examples: 1) using synthetic cell-responsive photo-clickable hydrogels for 3D culture of primary bone cells to mimic early stage of bone formation; 2) combining medical imaging with tomographic volumetric bioprinting to fabricate perfusable cell-laden hydrogel constructs within 5-15 seconds; and 3) using photocleavable hydrogels for image-guided two-photon biofabrication of 3D cellular networks mimicking the complex bone microarchitecture in a petri dish.
