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6/16/2023
Production of the future
News
New method for the production of biocompatible microfibres for own skin and organs
Researchers at TU Graz have developed a method for the efficient and cost-effective production of biocompatible microfibres. This method can speed up the production of autologous skin and organs significantly.
In biomedical engineering, tissue engineering for the ex-vivo production of skin or organs is becoming increasingly important. This requires biocompatible microfibres with enclosed microcapsules of controlled size and shape, as the cells used for tissue engineering must be embedded in material that is as similar as possible to the natural arrangement in vivo. Until now, the production of such fibres at low output has been quite costly and time-consuming. Researchers at TU Graz have now developed a new method for producing microfibres with the desired properties that can be used in pharmaceuticals and biomedicine, and which yields a significantly higher yield than previous methods with much less production effort.
In a paper published by the American Physical Society, Carole Planchette and her team from the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer at TU Graz explain how they can produce several metres of these microfibres in seconds using their development, which is funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF and the Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft aws. Current methods can only produce a few centimetres at most in the same amount of time. This acceleration was made possible by moving away from the production of microfibres in a liquid environment using microfluidic chips to a production that is possible in sterile room air. This has greatly reduced the necessary process steps as well as the costs and minimised potential sources of defects and blockages.
In a few years, the new method should make it possible to produce a fibre from human cells that resembles skin. This incorporation of cells into the microfibre is the next research step for Carole Planchette and her team. The expected result can be of great help to burn victims, for example, as new and personalised skin for transplantation can be produced from their own intact skin cells in a very short time. Researchers at TU Graz are collaborating with Med Uni Graz on research into the production of artificial skin. In the more distant future - more than ten years - it may then also be possible to produce artificial organs with this microfibre.
In a paper published by the American Physical Society, Carole Planchette and her team from the Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer at TU Graz explain how they can produce several metres of these microfibres in seconds using their development, which is funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF and the Austria Wirtschaftsservice Gesellschaft aws. Current methods can only produce a few centimetres at most in the same amount of time. This acceleration was made possible by moving away from the production of microfibres in a liquid environment using microfluidic chips to a production that is possible in sterile room air. This has greatly reduced the necessary process steps as well as the costs and minimised potential sources of defects and blockages.
In a few years, the new method should make it possible to produce a fibre from human cells that resembles skin. This incorporation of cells into the microfibre is the next research step for Carole Planchette and her team. The expected result can be of great help to burn victims, for example, as new and personalised skin for transplantation can be produced from their own intact skin cells in a very short time. Researchers at TU Graz are collaborating with Med Uni Graz on research into the production of artificial skin. In the more distant future - more than ten years - it may then also be possible to produce artificial organs with this microfibre.
