Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.S.M.E.

Degree Name

MS in Mechanical Engineering (M.S.M.E.)

Degree Granting Department

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Ying Zhong, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Nathan Gallant, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Ryan Toomey, Ph.D.

Keywords

3D Prinitng, NIPAAm, Polymers, PDMS

Abstract

Injuries like Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and Spinal cord injuries (CSI) areconsidered one of the biggest challenges in the medical sector as there is no specific treatment for these injuries and the medical intervention on these injuries is restricted to reducing the pain and removing the damaged human parts. One of the helpful and most effective treatment methods for these injuries involve neural tissue regeneration in the area of the injury. The main issue when trying to treat such injuries is that neural tissues are often unable to regenerate by themselves and require outer human intervention to differentiate. Biomedical scaffolds can provide an artificial environment that could enhance neural regeneration. In this research, we propose a 4D printed multilayer scaffold design that can mimic the extracellular matrix of the neural stem cells in terms of water content, elasticity, and strain development. The scaffold model applies a controllable strain value given the surrounding conditions. The strain is initiated by the difference in expansion between the layers of the scaffold. Different printing parameters were tested for each layer as well as the adhesion technique. different pore sizes on the surface of the layers and the attachment of cells were evaluated under different modifications.

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