Growing Blood Vessels to Enhance Bone Tissue Engineering
One of the major challenges involved with tissue engineering bone, is that blood vessels from the body take a long time to grow into bone grafts. We attempt to solve this problem by starting with highly porous ceramic materials which function like sponges and use cells from fat tissue to regrow vessels within the biomaterials.
On this project you will learn how to prepare biomaterial scaffolds, image the scaffolds, conduct cell studies and molecular testing to understand whether blood vessel networks are formed successfully.
Requirements
- Bioscience I
- Calculus I
- Chemistry I
Optional
- Cell Biology
- Physics I
Bioprinting 3D Teeth to Replace Teeth That Have Fallen Out
Many people suffer from edentulism (where teeth loosen and fall out) because of poor gingival health, bone quality in the jaws or due to diseases like cancer. Currently, these cases are treated using metal implants that support crowns. We are attempting to 3D print living cells inside materials to form novel biological tooth implants.
On this project you will learn how to use CT scan images to design 3D printed teeth, develop biomaterial "inks" to 3D print cells and materials in appropriate shapes and conduct cell culture studies to evaluate cell growth and development.
Requirements
- Bioscience I
- Calculus I
- Chemistry I
Optional
- Cell Biology
- Physics I
