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J. Torgersen, A. Ovsianikov, V. Mironov, N.U Pucher, X.H. Qin, K. Cicha, Z. Li, T. Machacek, V. Jantsch-Plunger, R. Liska, J. Stampfl:
"Biocompatible Hydrogels for the Three-dimensional Micro-fabrication of Extracellular Environments";
Talk: Bio-inspired Materials, Potsdam; 03-20-2012 - 03-23-2012; in: "Bio-inspired Materials International School and Conference on Biological Materials Science", DGM Programme, (2012), 20.

Two-Photon-Polymerisation (2PP) is a rapidly emerging platform technology for the microfabrication of three-dimensional biocompatible scaffolds for tissue engineering with a resolution at the sub-micrometre level. The required near-infrared (NIR) laser emits light of minimally damaging wavelength for biological tissues. This makes it potentially very attractive to apply 2PP for developing new functional materials to be structured in direct contact with cells or other living organisms. It is crucial to design a polymerisable formulation to be minimally toxic and at the same time reasonably reactive.
Using novel, water-soluble and two-photon active photoinitiators, 3D parts could be fabricated in photosensitive formulations with water contents of up to 80%, the highest water content reported for the use with 2PP. Monomers based on natural proteins combined low toxicity with sufficiently high reactivity. Writing speeds as high as 10 mm/s allowed very short fabrication times. The structuring was performed with a pulsed NIR laser with a wavelength of 810 nm and adjustable power of up to 400 mW. The presented material systems made the fabrication of 3D scaffolds with embedded model of type Caenorhabditis elegans possible for the first time.
This talk will demonstrate the feasibility and possible potential of 2PP and advanced photo-sensitive biomaterials to biofabricate 3D tissue constructs directly in the context with living cells and finally whole organisms.

bio-fabrication, protein-based, hydrogel, initiator, toxicity, two-photon polymerisation

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_207257.pdf