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Journal of Transmitted Diseases and Immunity
ISSN: 2573-0320
Volume 4
May 10-11, 2018
Frankfurt, Germany
Immunology Research 2018
Tissue Science 2018
Page 44
JOINT EVENT
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n d
E d i t i o n o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e o n
Immunology and
Evolution of Infectious Diseases
&
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E d i t i o n o f I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e o n
Tissue Engineering and
Regenerative Medicine
O
ne of the main goals in producing engineered tissues at
clinically relevant dimensions is creating perusable vascular
networks, since cell viability and function cannot be sustained
through diffusion alone. Therefore a great deal of research in the
field of regenerative medicine has been devoted to establish
in
vitro
pre-vascularization approaches. In this context, we propose
to create capillary-like networks using human umbilical cord
endothelial cells, cultured with human osteoblasts, as these
cells were demonstrated to have both direct and indirect pro-
vasculogenic effects, within freeze-dried collagen scaffolds with
tailored pore architecture. We guided scaffold pore architecture
by manipulation of the freeze-drying conditions; producing porous
scaffolds with randomly oriented (isotropic) or uniaxially aligned
(anisotropic) pore architectures. We characterized the scaffolds’
structural, permeability and mechanical properties and showed
that pore architecture affected the invasion, morphology and
self-organization of the endothelial cells, in both mono- and co-
cultures. Results showed that cell proliferation and metabolic
activity were affected by pore architecture aswell. Pore anisotropy
promoted more uniform cell infiltration deeper within the scaffold,
and improved cell organization into multi-cellular vessel-like
networks. Co-culture conditions further improved the network
quality. We suggest that deeper cell infiltration, along with more
efficient medium perfusion within the anisotropic scaffolds
account for these findings. However, the exact mechanism and
conditions for optimal 3D vascular network formation as function
of pore architecture have yet to be established.
Biography
Sasha Berdichevski is a Post-doctoral Research Associate in Engineering De-
partment at University of Cambridge, UK. She has obtained a Blavatnik Fel-
lowship by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, British Council and University of
Cambridge, and currently she holds a Marie Curie Fellowship. She has been
awarded as outstanding Researcher in Engineering and Science Award and
Prize for Excellence in Nano-science and Nanotechnology during her PhD in
the Technion, Israel. She has published her research in leading journal papers,
and co-authored publications in three books. Her research interests include
“Biomaterials, tissue engineering, scaffold-tissue/cell interactions, and scaf-
folds’ 3D geometry function relationship”.
sashenka125@gmail.comDesigning scaffolds for tissue engineering:
3D geometry-function relationship
Sasha Berdichevski
University of Cambridge, UK
Sasha Berdichevski, J Transm Dis Immun 2018, Volume 2
DOI: 10.21767/2573-0320-C2-004