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Bioengineered Smart materials: A tissue-like multifunctional 3D scaffold

Research leaders

Assoc. prof. Anna Wistrand


Dr. Necati Harmankaya (Post-doc)

Project information

The aim of this project is to design and produce Smart materials: tissue-like scaffolds that both attract specific cell populations and guide their growth and differentiation. Bioengineered scaffolds developed to date promote endogenous stem cell differentiation toward a specific phenotype by use of varying physical attributes. Alternatively, scaffolds have been engineered to attract a specific cell phenotype from a heterogeneous population. We propose here to combine these concepts in a novel way, thus advancing the development of scaffolds for basic, translational and clinical use.

The complex three-dimensional constructs developed in this project through recombination and arrangement of functionalized polyesters, self-assembling peptide gels and modified nano-diamond particles in defined sets will permit structural changes ranging from the nano- to millimeter level, allowing for an elegant design for sequential delivery of bioactive molecules and successful optimization for specific cell attraction and differentiation. The cell-material interactions will be evaluated and mapped using live-imaging methods, with the aim being to learn to control these interactions. Development of these Smart scaffolds will facilitate cell culture research, leading to rapid translation from the research lab to clinical regenerative medicine therapies. The project has clear clinical relevance to fields ranging from dental reconstruction and trauma surgery to cancer.

Publications from this project

  • J. Fagerland, A. Finne-Wistrand, K. Numata “Short one-pot chemo-enzymatic synthesis of l-lysine and l-alanine diblock copolypeptides” Biomacromolecules (2014), 15(3), 735-743, 10.1021/bm4015254
  • T. Fuoco, A. Finne-Wistrand, D. Pappalardo “A Route to Aliphatic Poly(ester)s with Thiol Pendant Groups: From Monomer Design to Editable Porous Scaffolds” Biomacromolecules (2016), 17 (4), 1383-1394, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00005
  • J. Fagerland, A. Finne-Wistrand, D. Pappalardo ”Modulating the thermal properties of poly(hydroxybutyrate) by the copolymerization of rac-beta-butyrolactone with lactide” New J. Chem., 40 (9), 7671-7679, DOI: 10.1039/c6nj00298f

Financed by Swedish research council

Diary number 621-2013-3764