Polymer Institute
Topic
Supramolecular polymeric hydrogels for 3D bioprinting and injectable therapeutics in cartilage tissue regeneration
PhD. program
Physical (Macromolecular) Chemistry,
Year of admission
2024
Name of the supervisor
Abolfazl Heydari, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology STU
Annotation
Damaged articular cartilage due to overuse or injury can greatly impact the quality of life. With the shift in the distribution of the world population toward aging, a growing need for effective options for joint restoration and repair is highly required. Cartilage regeneration by matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation is a promising method to regenerate damaged cartilage. This approach combining a three-dimensional scaffold, stem-cells, bio-active factors, and drugs is the topic of this Ph.D. study.
The strategies of tissue-engineered articular cartilage developed up to date using injectable shear-thinning hydrogel, which is administrated in a minimally invasive way into living bodies, and the ability to match irregular defects fulfill the most of requirements for cartilage regeneration. However, the challenge remains to design an injectable scaffold mimicking the dynamic extracellular matrix (ECM) of native cartilage and offering environmental cues for cells. The Ph.D. candidate will mainly focus to propose a solution by designing a viscoelastic hydrogel with tunable mechanical properties. This hydrogel will be formed based on bioorthogonal chemistry by supramolecular crosslinks or the combination of dynamic both supramolecular and covalent crosslinks. The intention is to improve the mechanical properties toward mimicking the ECM of articular cartilage without compromising the biocompatibility of hydrogel. In addition, the promising injectable hydrogel will be used to prepare a hydrogel by 3D bioprinting. The performance of the designed platform will be tested in a rabbit model toward cartilage regeneration in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava and the National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases in Piešťany.
The strategies of tissue-engineered articular cartilage developed up to date using injectable shear-thinning hydrogel, which is administrated in a minimally invasive way into living bodies, and the ability to match irregular defects fulfill the most of requirements for cartilage regeneration. However, the challenge remains to design an injectable scaffold mimicking the dynamic extracellular matrix (ECM) of native cartilage and offering environmental cues for cells. The Ph.D. candidate will mainly focus to propose a solution by designing a viscoelastic hydrogel with tunable mechanical properties. This hydrogel will be formed based on bioorthogonal chemistry by supramolecular crosslinks or the combination of dynamic both supramolecular and covalent crosslinks. The intention is to improve the mechanical properties toward mimicking the ECM of articular cartilage without compromising the biocompatibility of hydrogel. In addition, the promising injectable hydrogel will be used to prepare a hydrogel by 3D bioprinting. The performance of the designed platform will be tested in a rabbit model toward cartilage regeneration in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava and the National Institute of Rheumatic Diseases in Piešťany.