i) Implementation of natural design paradigms (in terms of material compositions and morphological aspects) in the design and fabrication of bone-inspired scaffolds;

ii) to design patient customized constructs and evaluation of the effects of different architected micro-porosities on the mechanical behaviour of the scaffolds;

iii) to use biomimetic constructs to extract the mechanistic features of bones;

iv) to assess bone cell responses with the proposed scaffold designs (as a part of 4th PhD year)

GAP identifies in bone micro-scale the key for overcoming the current limitations in bone construct design and realization. Indeed, the lacuno-canalicular network is considered an optimal solution to address the lack in scaffold pore interconnectivity.

The proposed pathways towards clinical applications are: (i) bone micro-architectures as an inspiration for the design of multi-functional scaffolds, (ii) bone micro-architecture as a 3D printed solution for scaffolds effective cellularization.

Enrolment: TUD

Secondments:

1) Prof. Banfi (IOG): to study the compatibilities of scaffolds on bones

2) Prof. Vergani (POLIMI): to perform mechanical characterization of scaffolds.

i) Use of natural paradigms (e.g., randomness, hierarchy, functional gradient) for the design and fabrication of (micro)scaffold;

ii) to mimic similar chemical compositional changes of bones in the design and fabrication of composite (polymeric/metallic) scaffolds, via high-resolution light-assisted AM techniques, i.e., stereolithography (SLA), micro selective laser melting (micro-SLM), bioprinting;

iii) use other design paradigms, such as hierarchy, length scaling, surface modification, and graded properties, to design scaffolds;

iv) test the fabricated scaffolds under quasi-static and dynamic loading scenarios in a in house designed bioreactor;

v) evaluation of scaffold geometrical accuracy;

vi) investigation of the interaction of bone cells (e.g., mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), osteoblast and osteoclast) and the bone-inspired scaffolds. This will enable us to analyze the cell mechanobiology under different mechano-physical cues;

vii) develop advanced computational models, to investigate and simulate the interaction of living cells and bone-inspired scaffolds;

viii) to implant scaffolds with promising in vitro results into a human ex vivo defect model and the osseointegration at the interface will be monitored longitudinally with micro-computed tomography (as a part of 4th PhD year).