PhD Student
Associate member of the GRK2516
Group: Prof. Pol Besenius, JGU Chemistry
Contact: E-mail, Web

Research Project: Experiments
Supramolecular hydrogels based on host-guest-interactions for 3D-bioprinting

Printing of biologically functional constructs is significant for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the development of a bio-ink, a printable cell-laden material, remains a major challenge due to its multifaceted demands. While printability is highly dependent on the physical properties of the material, the formation of functional tissues requires interactions between the cells and the extracellular matrix.
In this work, I want to achieve a balance between the physical processability and cytocompatibility by using a supramolecular approach. Therefore, I mix one supramolecular network which shows fast stress relaxation and supports cell proliferation with a second physical network that can be transformed into a chemical network by applying an external photo-trigger. The double networks obtained have improved shape fidelity while the cytocompatibility is maintained.

Fig. 1: schematic representation of the supramolecular bio-ink.