Improved fabrication of melt electrospun tissue engineering scaffolds using direct writing and advanced electric field control

Direct writing melt electrospinning is an additive manufacturing technique capable of the layer-by-layer fabrication of highly ordered 3d tissue engineering scaffolds from micron-diameter fibres. The utility of these scaffolds, however, is limited by the maximum achievable height of controlled fibre deposition, beyond which the structure becomes increasingly disordered. A source of this disorder is charge build-up on the deposited polymer producing unwanted coulombic forces. In this study we introduce a novel melt electrospinning platform with dual voltage power supplies to reduce undesirable charge effects and improve fibre deposition control. We produced and characterised several 90° cross-hatched fibre scaffolds using a range of needle/collector plate voltages. Fibre thickness was found to be sensitive only to overall potential and invariant to specific tip/collector voltage. We also produced ordered scaffolds up to 200 layers thick (fibre spacing 1 mm, diameter 40 μm) and characterised structure in terms of three distinct zones; ordered, semi-ordered and disordered. Our in vitro analysis indicates successful cell attachment and distribution throughout the scaffolds, with little evidence of cell death after seven days. This study demonstrates the importance of electrostatic control for reducing destabilising polymer charge effects and enabling the fabrication of morphologically suitable scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Bioprocess engineering of microalgae to produce a variety of consumer products

Microalgae biotechnology has recently emerged into the lime light owing to numerous consumer products that can be harnessed from microalgae. Product portfolio stretches from straightforward biomass production for food and animal feed to valuable products extracted from microalgal biomass, including triglycerides which can be converted into biodiesel. For most of these applications, the production process is moderately economically viable and the market is developing. Considering the enormous biodiversity of microalgae and recent developments in genetic and metabolic engineering, this group of organisms represents one of the most promising sources for new products and applications. With the development of detailed culture and screening techniques, microalgal biotechnology can meet the high demands of food, energy and pharmaceutical industries. This review article discusses the technology and production platforms for development and creation of different valuable consumer products from microalgal biomass.

Large-volume methacrylate monolith for plasmid purification : process engineering approach to synthesis and application

The extent of exothermicity associated with the construction of large-volume methacrylate monolithic columns has somewhat obstructed the realisation of large-scale rapid biomolecule purification especially for plasmid-based products which have proven to herald future trends in biotechnology. A novel synthesis technique via a heat expulsion mechanism was employed to prepare a 40 mL methacrylate monolith with a homogeneous radial pore structure along its thickness. Radial temperature gradient was recorded to be only 1.8 °C. Maximum radial temperature recorded at the centre of the monolith was 62.3 °C, which was only 2.3 °C higher than the actual polymerisation temperature. Pore characterisation of the monolithic polymer showed unimodal pore size distributions at different radial positions with an identical modal pore size of 400 nm. Chromatographic characterisation of the polymer after functionalisation with amino groups displayed a persistent dynamic binding capacity of 15.5 mg of plasmid DNA/mL. The maximum pressure drop recorded was only 0.12 MPa at a flow rate of 10 mL/min. The polymer demonstrated rapid separation ability by fractionating Escherichia coli DH5α-pUC19 clarified lysate in only 3 min after loading. The plasmid sample collected after the fast purification process was tested to be a homogeneous supercoiled plasmid with DNA electrophoresis and restriction analysis.

Process engineering aspects of plasmid-based biopharmaceuticals production : tackling the threatening vaccine shortages to prevent global pandemics

Infectious diseases such as SARS, influenza and bird flu have the potential to cause global pandemics; a key intervention will be vaccination. Hence, it is imperative to have in place the capacity to create vaccines against new diseases in the shortest time possible. In 2004, The Institute of Medicine asserted that the world is tottering on the verge of a colossal influenza outbreak. The institute stated that, inadequate production system for influenza vaccines is a major obstruction in the preparation towards influenza outbreaks. Because of production issues, the vaccine industry is facing financial and technological bottlenecks: In October 2004, the FDA was caught off guard by the shortage of flu vaccine, caused by a contamination in a US-based plant (Chiron Corporation), one of the only two suppliers of US flu vaccine. Due to difficulties in production and long processing times, the bulk of the world's vaccine production comes from very small number of companies compared to the number of companies producing drugs. Conventional vaccines are made of attenuated or modified forms of viruses. Relatively high and continuous doses are administered when a non-viable vaccine is used and the overall protective immunity obtained is ephemeral. The safety concerns of viral vaccines have propelled interest in creating a viable replacement that would be more effective and safer to use.

Process engineering approach to large-volume methacrylate monolith synthesis for plasmid purification

The construction of large?volume methacrylate monolithic columns for preparative-scale plasmid purification is obstructed by the enormous release of exotherms, thus introducing structural heterogeneity in the monolith pore system. A remarkable radial temperature gradient develops along the monolith thickness, reaching a terminal temperature that supersedes the maximum temperature required for the preparation of a structurally homogeneous monolith. A novel heat expulsion technique is employed to overcome the heat build-up during the synthesis process. The enormous heat build-up is perceived to encompass the heat associated with initiator decomposition and the heat released from free radical-monomer and monomer-monomer interactions. The heat resulting from the initiator decomposition was expelled along with some gaseous fumes before commencing polymerisation in a gradual addition fashion. Characteristics of a 50 mL monolith synthesized using this technique showed an improved uniformity in the pore structure radially along the length on the monolith. Chromatographic characterization of this adsorbent displayed a persistent binding capacity of 14.5 mg pDNA/mL of the adsorbent. The adsorbent was able to fractionate a clarified bacteria lysate in only 3 min (after loading) into RNA, protein and pDNA respectively. The pDNA fraction obtained was analyzed to be a homogeneous supercoiled pDNA.

Surface engineering of reduced graphene oxide for controllable ambipolar flash memories

Tunable charge-trapping behaviors including unipolar charge trapping of one type of charge carrier and ambipolar trapping of both electrons and holes in a complementary manner is highly desirable for low power consumption multibit flash memory design. Here, we adopt a strategy of tuning the Fermi level of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) through self-assembled monolayer (SAM) functionalization and form p-type and n-type doped rGO with a wide range of manipulation on work function. The functionalized rGO can act as charge-trapping layer in ambipolar flash memories, and a dramatic transition of charging behavior from unipolar trapping of electrons to ambipolar trapping and eventually to unipolar trapping of holes was achieved. Adjustable hole/electron injection barriers induce controllable Vth shift in the memory transistor after programming operation. Finally, we transfer the ambipolar memory on flexible substrates and study their charge-trapping properties at various bending cycles. The SAM-functionalized rGO can be a promising candidate for next-generation nonvolatile memories.

Environments for zonal cartilage tissue engineering

Articular cartilage is a highly organized tissue with cellular and matrix properties that vary with depth zones. Regenerating this zonal organization has proven difficult in tissue-engineered cartilage to treat damaged cartilage. In this thesis, we evaluated the effects of culture environments that mimic aspects of the native cartilage environment on chondrocyte subpopulations. We found that decellularized cartilage matrix can improve zonal tissue-engineered cartilage. Also, chondrocytes respond to signals from bone cells and compressive stimulation in a zone-dependent manner. These results highlight the importance of a zone-specific environment to improve tissue-engineered cartilage in vitro.

First-principle engineering magnetism in low-dimensional boron nitride materials

Nanotubes and nanosheets are low-dimensional nanomaterials with unique properties that can be exploited for numerous applications. This book offers a complete overview of their structure, properties, development, modeling approaches, and practical use. It focuses attention on boron nitride (BN) nanotubes, which have had major interest given their special high-temperature properties, as well as graphene nanosheets, BN nanosheets, and metal oxide nanosheets. Key topics include surface functionalization of nanotubes for composite applications, wetting property changes for biocompatible environments, and graphene for energy storage applications

Additive tissue manufacturing for breast reconstruction: Combining CAD/CAM with adipose tissue engineering

The primary aim of this multidisciplinary project was to develop a new generation of breast implants. Disrupting the currently prevailing paradigm of silicone implants which permanently introduce a foreign body into mastectomy patients, highly porous implants developed as part of this PhD project are biodegradable by the body and augment the growth of natural tissue. Our technology platform leverages computer-assisted-design which allows us to manufacture fully patient-specific implants based on a personalised medicine approach. Multiple animal studies conducted in this project have shown that the polymeric implant slowly degrades within the body harmlessly while the body's own tissue forms concurrently.

The rapid manufacture of uniform composite multicellular-biomaterial micropellets, their assembly into macroscopic organized tissues, and potential applications in cartilage tissue engineering

We and others have published on the rapid manufacture of micropellet tissues, typically formed from 100-500 cells each. The micropellet geometry enhances cellular biological properties, and in many cases the micropellets can subsequently be utilized as building blocks to assemble complex macrotissues. Generally, micropellets are formed from cells alone, however when replicating matrix-rich tissues such as cartilage it would be ideal if matrix or biomaterials supplements could be incorporated directly into the micropellet during the manufacturing process. Herein we describe a method to efficiently incorporate donor cartilage matrix into tissue engineered cartilage micropellets. We lyophilized bovine cartilage matrix, and then shattered it into microscopic pieces having average dimensions < 10 μm diameter; we termed this microscopic donor matrix "cartilage dust (CD)". Using a microwell platform, we show that ~0.83 μg CD can be rapidly and efficiently incorporated into single multicellular aggregates formed from 180 bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) each. The microwell platform enabled the rapid manufacture of thousands of replica composite micropellets, with each micropellet having a material/CD core and a cellular surface. This micropellet organization enabled the rapid bulking up of the micropellet core matrix content, and left an adhesive cellular outer surface. This morphological organization enabled the ready assembly of the composite micropellets into macroscopic tissues. Generically, this is a versatile method that enables the rapid and uniform integration of biomaterials into multicellular micropellets that can then be used as tissue building blocks. In this study, the addition of CD resulted in an approximate 8-fold volume increase in the micropellets, with the donor matrix functioning to contribute to an increase in total cartilage matrix content. Composite micropellets were readily assembled into macroscopic cartilage tissues; the incorporation of CD enhanced tissue size and matrix content, but did not enhance chondrogenic gene expression.

Teaching engineering tribology: Elements of assessment design for different learning styles

This study involves teaching engineering students concepts in lubrication engineering that are heavily dependent on mathematics. Excellent learning outcomes have been observed when assessment tasks are devised for a diversity of learning styles. Providing different pathways to knowledge reduces the probability that a single barrier halts progress towards the ultimate learning objective. The interdisciplinary nature of tribology can be used advantageously to tie together multiple elements of engineering to solve real physical problems—an approach that seems to benefit a majority of engineering students. To put this into practice, various assessment items were devised on the study of hydrodynamics, culminating in a project to provide a summative evaluation of the students’ learning achievement. A survey was also conducted to assess other aspects of students’ learning experiences under the headings: ‘perception of learning’ and ‘overall satisfaction’. High degrees of achievement and satisfaction were observed. An attempt has been made to identify the elements contributing to success so that they may be applied to other challenging concepts in engineering education.

A decision support framework for prioritization of engineering asset management activities under uncertainty

Engineers and asset managers must often make decisions on how to best allocate limited resources amongst different interrelated activities, including repair, renewal, inspection, and procurement of new assets. The presence of project interdependencies and the lack of sufficient information on the true value of an activity often produce complex problems and leave the decision maker guessing about the quality and robustness of their decision. In this paper, a decision support framework for uncertain interrelated activities is presented. The framework employs a methodology for multi-criteria ranking in the presence of uncertainty, detailing the effect that uncertain valuations may have on the priority of a particular activity. The framework employs employing semi-quantitative risk measures that can be tailored to an organisation and enable a transparent and simple-to-use uncertainty specification by the decision maker. The framework is then demonstrated on a real world project set from a major Australian utility provider.

Advanced tissue engineering scaffold design for regeneration of the complex hierarchical periodontal structure

AIM: This study investigated the ability of an osteoconductive biphasic scaffold to simultaneously regenerate alveolar bone, periodontal ligament and cementum. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A biphasic scaffold was built by attaching a fused deposition modelled bone compartment to a melt electrospun periodontal compartment. The bone compartment was coated with a calcium phosphate (CaP) layer for increasing osteoconductivity, seeded with osteoblasts and cultured in vitro for 6 weeks. The resulting constructs were then complemented with the placement of PDL cell sheets on the periodontal compartment, attached to a dentin block and subcutaneously implanted into athymic rats for 8 weeks. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, alkaline phosphatase and DNA content quantification, confocal laser microscopy, micro computerized tomography and histological analysis were employed to evaluate the scaffold's performance. RESULTS: The in vitro study showed that alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly increased in the CaP-coated samples and they also displayed enhanced mineralization. In the in vivo study, significantly more bone formation was observed in the coated scaffolds. Histological analysis revealed that the large pore size of the periodontal compartment permitted vascularization of the cell sheets, and periodontal attachment was achieved at the dentin interface. CONCLUSIONS: This work demonstrates that the combination of cell sheet technology together with an osteoconductive biphasic scaffold could be utilized to address the limitations of current periodontal regeneration techniques.