Protective Coatings Based on the Organosilicon Derivatives of Fatty Acids Obtained by the Thiol-Ene Click Reaction.

This article describes the synthesis of a hydrophobic protective coating for concrete based on a silane derivative of fatty acids. The coating was obtained through a thiol-ene click addition reaction using methyl oleate and 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane in the presence of the photoinitiator 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone (DMPA). This reaction proved to be more efficient compared with other tested (photo)initiators, considering the double bond conversion of oleate.

Knitting for heart valve tissue engineering.

Knitting is a versatile technology which offers a large portfolio of products and solutions of interest in heart valve (HV) tissue engineering (TE). One of the main advantages of knitting is its ability to construct complex shapes and structures by precisely assembling the yarns in the desired position. With this in mind, knitting could be employed to construct a HV scaffold that closely resembles the authentic valve.

Weaving for heart valve tissue engineering.

Weaving is a resourceful technology which offers a large selection of solutions that are readily adaptable for tissue engineering (TE) of artificial heart valves (HV). The different ways that the yarns are interlaced in this technique could be used to produce complex architectures, such as the three-layer architecture of the leaflets. Once the assembly is complete, growth of cells in the scaffold would occur in the orientation of the yarn, enabling the deposition of extra cellular matrixes proteins in an oriented manner.

Valve Tissue Engineering with Living Absorbable Threads.

Tissue engineering (TE) depends on the population of scaffolds with appropriate cells, arranged in a specific physiological direction using a variety of techniques. Here, a novel technique of creating "living threads" is described based on thin (poly(ε-caprolactone) fibers of different diameters (23-243 μm). The fibers readily attract human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are firmly adhered.

Alginate for cardiac regeneration: From seaweed to clinical trials.

Heart failure is a growing endemic in the aging Western population with a prevalence of over 20 million people worldwide. Existing heart failure therapies are unable to reverse heart failure and do not address its fundamental cause, the loss of cardiomyocytes. In order to induce myocardial regeneration for the myocardium and the heart valve, facilitate self-repair, improve tissue salvage, reduce or reverse the adverse-remodeling and ultimately achieve long-term functional stabilization and improvement in the heart function, novel strategies for therapeutic regeneration are being developed which are aiming to compensate for the insufficient and low intrinsic regenerative ability of the adult heart.

Adaptation of a commonly used, chemically defined medium for human embryonic stem cells to stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture.

Metabolic labeling with stable isotopes is a prominent technique for comparative quantitative proteomics, and stable isotope labeling with amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) is the most commonly used approach. SILAC is, however, traditionally limited to simple tissue culture regimens and only rarely employed in the context of complex culturing conditions as those required for human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Classic hESC culture is based on the use of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) as a feeder layer, and as a result, possible xenogeneic contamination, contribution of unlabeled amino acids by the feeders, interlaboratory variability of MEF preparation, and the overall complexity of the culture system are all of concern in conjunction with SILAC.

Organ weaving: woven threads and sheets as a step towards a new strategy for artificial organ development.

The concept of "organ weaving" is presented, a fabrication technique that can be an attractive option for the development of artificial tissues and organs. "Living threads" are created by immersing threads that are soaked in a CaCl(2) solution into a sodium-alginate-loaded cell suspension bath, encapsulating the cells and creating a bio-friendly, easily manageable starting material for building up larger scaffold structures. Such living threads have the advantage of being a particularly mild culturing medium for mammalian cells, protecting the cells during subsequent processing steps from dehydration and other rapid changes in the chemistry of the surrounding environment.

A practical approach to the development of inkjet printable functional ionogels-bendable, foldable, transparent, and conductive electrode materials.

Ionic liquid gels, or ionogels, are semi-conductive, flexible materials, offering a host of tunable physical properties, gaining an increasing level of scientific interest. One of the challenges of this emerging category of materials is that the structure-process-property relationships are still empirically driven. In this study, a simple, practical approach is laid out to prepare standardized libraries of these materials, for the purpose of selecting transparent, flexible conductive formulations that can be dispensed using inkjet printing.

"One cell-one well": a new approach to inkjet printing single cell microarrays.

A new approach to prepare arrays of sessile droplets of living single cell cultures using a liquid hydrophobic barrier prevents the samples from dehydrating, and allows for spatially addressable arrays for statistical quantitative single cell studies. By carefully advancing a thin layer of mineral oil on the substrate over the droplets during the printing, dehydration of the droplets can be prevented, and the vitality of the cells can be maintained. The net result of this confluence of submerged cell culturing and inkjet printing is facile access to spatially addressable arrays of isolated single cells on surfaces.

Laser printing mediated cell patterning.

An approach for complex cell patterning, using laser printing, is described allowing essentially any cellular image or pattern to be rapidly fabricated.

Microarrays of over 2000 hydrogels--identification of substrates for cellular trapping and thermally triggered release.

In this paper we describe an approach whereby over 2000 individual polymers were synthesized, in situ, on a microscope slide using inkjet printing. Subsequent biological analysis of the entire library allowed the rapid identification of specific polymers with the desired properties. Herein we demonstrate how this array of new materials could be used for the identification of polymers that allow cellular adherence, proliferation and then mild thermal release, for multiple cell lines, including mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells.

Inkjet fabrication of polymer microarrays and grids--solving the evaporation problem.

Polymer microarrays, consisting of either discrete features or a matrix of inter-crossed lines were directly fabricated in situ by inkjet printing individual monomers and initiator solutions in organic solvents through a film of oil, thereby allowing the rapid generation of a broad range of co-polymers, while solving the problem of selective monomer evaporation.

Inkjet fabrication of hydrogel microarrays using in situ nanolitre-scale polymerisation.

Polymer hydrogel microarrays were fabricated by inkjet printing of monomers and initiator, allowing up to 1800 individual polymer features to be printed on a single glass slide.