Development of scaffold and bioreactor technologies for the engineering of heart valve models
Early Stage Researcher: Sebastião van Uden
Host institution: BEL
Objectives
The ESR will coordinate the activities leading to the development of novel platforms and technologies for the engineering of reliable 3D heart valve models, to be employed for the development of new therapeutic tools and for the screening of new drugs. In particular, activities will focus on the design and the prototyping of innovative scaffolds - e.g. manufactured by means of electrospinning with biocompatible and biodegradable materials - and on the development of a novel bioreactor, able to provide engineered heart valves with appropriate mechanical and biochemical stimulations, leading to truthful tissue models.
The ESR will deal with crucial design aspects both for the scaffold (e.g. fiber diameter, average porosity, mechanical properties, wettability, biocompatibility etc.) and for the bioreactor (e.g. optimization of geometries for the manufacturing by injection molding, choice of materials in relation with the sterilization method, assembly of components in a clean room environment, packaging design and validation, shelf life evaluation). The bioreactor will enable also the housing of the scaffold developed within Task 3.3.
Expected Results
i) prototypes of electrospun scaffolds for the engineering of heart valves, ii) CAD/CAM drawings of a novel bioreactor with disposable culture chambers and iii) reliable 3D model tissues of heart valves, derived from the experience gained by POLIMI in TP3.1, to be employed for the development of new therapeutic tools and for the screening of new drugs.
