Additive Manufacturing of Polyhydroxyalkanoate-Based Blends Using Fused Deposition Modelling for the Development of Biomedical Devices.

In the last few decades Additive Manufacturing has advanced and is becoming important for biomedical applications. In this study we look at a variety of biomedical devices including, bone implants, tooth implants, osteochondral tissue repair patches, general tissue repair patches, nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) and coronary artery stents to which fused deposition modelling (FDM) can be applied. We have proposed CAD designs for these devices and employed a cost-effective 3D printer to fabricate proof-of-concept prototypes.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates and their advances for biomedical applications.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are sustainable, versatile, biocompatible, and bioresorbable polymers that are suitable for biomedical applications. Produced via bacterial fermentation under nutrient-limiting conditions, they are uncovering a new horizon for devices in biomedical applications. A wide range of cell types including bone, cartilage, nerve, cardiac, and pancreatic cells, readily attach grow and are functional on PHAs.

Highlights on Advancing Frontiers in Tissue Engineering.

The field of tissue engineering continues to advance, sometimes in exponential leaps forward, but also sometimes at a rate that does not fulfill the promise that the field imagined a few decades ago. This review is in part a catalog of success in an effort to inform the process of innovation. Tissue engineering has recruited new technologies and developed new methods for engineering tissue constructs that can be used to mitigate or model disease states for study.

Natural Biomaterials for Cardiac Tissue Engineering: A Highly Biocompatible Solution.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) constitute a major fraction of the current major global diseases and lead to about 30% of the deaths, i.e., 17.