Biomaterials - Synthetic Polymers and Bioplotting Techniques

Envisiontec Bioplotter

Tissue engineering applications have forced a rapid growth in the investigation of suitable materials for use as implants. This research concentrates on producing scaffolds that are biocompatible, provide sufficient structural integrity to allow tissue regeneration to occur and degrade over a suitable time as new tissue is formed. In recent years, work has been undertaken in developing scaffold materials which also incorporate cell signalling functions by copolymerisation with relevant peptide sequences.

3D Simulation of
Microscaffold

We are looking to further develop these materials with the inclusion of specific signalling abilities that we have identified as being highly crucial to wound healing. New advances in rapid prototyping technology have led to the development of equipment designed specifically for biomedical applications. These rapid prototype machines enable the manufacture of true three-dimensional structures formed to pre-defined geometries using materials which are biocompatible and in some cases are biological tissue materials themselves such as collagen or fibronectin gels.