Tissue regeneration is a process that stimulates cell renewal and growth to repair or replace damaged tissue. This is important for wound healing but also offers an alternative to transplanting damaged organs. For the latter, external support, namely tissue scaffolds, provides a platform for cell migration to the affected site to form new tissue. Thus, these tissue scaffolds are key in the regeneration of damaged tissue and organs.

Functional materials that bear a resemblance to the native organisation of tissues, have enormous potential in aiding the reconstruction of clinically damaged tissue, e.g. skin, nerves, heart valves, tendons. Functional materials are essentially 3-D porous biomaterials that if required have the ability to(a) mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) of tissue and promote cell-biomaterial interaction (b) provide the tissue with mechanical support (c) permit the transport of gases and nutrients for cell growth and (d) provoke a minimal immune response.

The ECM is heterogeneous and constantly renewed in a healthy environment. It consists of two main components glycoproteins (fibronectin, proteoglycans, laminin) and fibrous proteins (collagen, elastin). The ECM influences the differentiation as well as anchorage and attachment of connective tissue to enhance the healing process. [1]

The design of a material for use in tissue repair and regeneration that is capable of regulating ECM activity is therefore a desirable objective. In our group we focus on the design of hydrogel based polymeric networks with the potential to mimic the ECM. Hydrogels are 3-Dpolymeric networks with the ability to retain a large quantity of water whilst maintaining the network structure intact. The composition and processing of the hydrogel network influence the hydrogel properties and characteristics. Hydrogels possess key characteristics such as permeability to oxygen and nutrients. The choice and combination of the monomer and polymers for the hydrogel network enables hydrogel characteristics to be tuneable and thus customisable. This makes hydrogels a desirable material for specific biomedical and biological applications such as wound dressings, transdermal drug delivery devices and tissue scaffolds to name a few.

Hydrogels[2] are diverse and can be classed as either synthetic or natural in origin. Synthetic hydrogels can be designed to possess the desired mechanical properties. Synthetic hydrogels do not have inherent bioactivity but they can be engineered from a broad spectrum of synthetic monomers, such as sodium 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate (NaAMPS), carefully chosen as potential ECM analogues. The sulphonate groups of NaAMPS mimic those of natural glycosaminoglycans found within the ECM. [3]

Natural-based hydrogels contain natural polymers, such as sodium alginate, carboxymethyl cellulose, chitosan, chitin, gelatine, and hyaluronic acid. A disadvantage of natural hydrogels is a lack of mechanical strength. On the other hand, these can be combined with synthetic monomers, such as NaAMPS, and polymers, such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), to maximise the benefit of mechanical strength and desired bioactivity.

This multidisciplinary research project will investigate the influence that blended hydrogels matrices have in protecting cells, release of transferred cells and the influence on cell behaviour and activity [4].This project will assess the impact of design, processing and post-processing, as well as physiological parameters of hydrogel matrices on cellular activity. The first phase will focus on benchmarking a range of formulations using traditional polymerisation techniques on cellular activity. The second phase will then explore the effect of alternative manufacturing techniques on cellular activity.

References

[1] Potekaev et al. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 5947

[2] Gyles te al. Eu. Pol. J. 2017,88, 373

[3] Tighe & Mann. Advanced Wound Repair Therapies 201, 321-354

[4] Lu et al. Sig.Transduct. Target. Ther. 2024, 9, 166