Tunability of Electrospun Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering
Name
Gloria Chyr - chyr-sb-dmse-2020.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
10.22 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
a8c7c8b58608d9699d239c5d96d46e80
Author(s)
Chyr, Gloria Un
Advisor(s)
Tarkanian, Michael J.
Date Issued
May 2020
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Electrospinning is a cheap and quick method of creating non-woven scaffolds for tissue regeneration and growth with the proper fiber diameter for cell adhesion. However, electrospun scaffolds lack large pores between fibers and result in a densely packed mesh in which cells can adhere only to the surface of the material. Control of scaffold fiber size and porosity is critical to ensure scaffolds have a fiber diameter appropriate for cell adhesion and a high-enough porosity to allow for cell migration through the material. This thesis aims to demonstrate the tunability and control of electrospun gelatin scaffolds to make them viable for use in tissue regeneration by altering grounded collector geometry and thus the electric field that nanofiber deposition follows. Previous electrospinning experiments show that processing parameters such as flow rate and voltage can affect fiber diameter and porosity, but are still insufficient in achieving dimensions viable for cell migration. Scaffold porosity is substantially more affected by the grounded collector geometry. By modifying collector geometry, pore size can be controlled without affecting fiber morphology and the deposition of gelatin nanofibers can be aligned or patterned to mimic natural tissue scaffolds. Introduction of a non-conductive, woven mesh in between the collector and source may allow further control of deposition patterns and thus scaffold construction. The path of electrospun fibers and the deposition patterns can be predicted by modeling the electric field.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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