Multi-scale and mechanics of 3D printed cochlear implants for local drug delivery.

The currently available treatments for inner ear disorders often involve systemic drug administration, leading to suboptimal drug concentrations and side effects. Cochlear implants offer a potential solution by providing localized and sustained drug delivery to the cochlea. While the mechanical characterization of both the implants and their constituent material is crucial to ensure functional performance and structural integrity during implantation, this aspect has been mostly overlooked.

Automated Folding of Origami Lattices: From Nanopatterned Sheets to Stiff Meta-Biomaterials.

Folding nanopatterned flat sheets into complex 3D structures enables the fabrication of meta-biomaterials that combine a rationally designed 3D architecture with nanoscale surface features. Self-folding is an attractive approach for realizing such materials. However, self-folded lattices are generally too compliant as there is an inherent competition between ease-of-folding requirements and final load-bearing characteristics.

Mechanotransduction in high aspect ratio nanostructured meta-biomaterials: The role of cell adhesion, contractility, and transcriptional factors.

Black Ti (bTi) surfaces comprising high aspect ratio nanopillars exhibit a rare combination of bactericidal and osteogenic properties, framing them as cell-instructive meta-biomaterials. Despite the existing data indicating that bTi surfaces induce osteogenic differentiation in cells, the mechanisms by which this response is regulated are not fully understood. Here, we hypothesized that high aspect ratio bTi nanopillars regulate cell adhesion, contractility, and nuclear translocation of transcriptional factors, thereby inducing an osteogenic response in the cells.

Nanoimprinting for high-throughput replication of geometrically precise pillars in fused silica to regulate cell behavior.

Developing high-throughput nanopatterning techniques that also allow for precise control over the dimensions of the fabricated features is essential for the study of cell-nanopattern interactions. Here, we developed a process that fulfills both of these criteria. Firstly, we used electron-beam lithography (EBL) to fabricate precisely controlled arrays of submicron pillars with varying values of interspacing on a large area of fused silica.

On the Use of Black Ti as a Bone Substituting Biomaterial: Behind the Scenes of Dual-Functionality.

Despite the potential of small-scale pillars of black titanium (bTi) for killing the bacteria and directing the fate of stem cells, not much is known about the effects of the pillars' design parameters on their biological properties. Here, three distinct bTi surfaces are designed and fabricated through dry etching of the titanium, each featuring different pillar designs. The interactions of the surfaces with MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cells and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are then investigated.