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3D Bioprinting

Fiorenzo Omenetto (Tufts)

       In the biofabrication and additive manufacturing module, we discussed how we can use naturally derived materials for making and building. 
      The guiding principle is to reinvent structural biopolymers into high-technological materials through basic principles of materials science, advanced fabrication and ingenuity.          The class was focused on silk and keratin, materials with thousands of years of history and that now can be engineered to serve at the interface between the biotic and abiotic world.

 

Lab homework assignments



 1.Regeneration of silk fibroin into an aqueous suspension  (refer to Step 1-23 in Rockwood et al. Nature Protocols, 6, 1612–1631 (2011) in background reading)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Fabrication of an implantable, biodegradable diffraction grating through soft lithography 

 

 

The silk fibroin can now be used to prepare a number of different materials. Using the concentrated solution you can prepare silk tubes by either a simple dip method to create thin-walled tubes or  by gel spinning, wherein the fibroin is extruded onto a rotating mandrel Alternatively, silk solution may be used to prepare hydrogels via vortexing, sonication, electrical current or pH change; nonpatterned or patterned silk films silk microspheres using the DOPC  or PVA method; electrospun silk fibers; or silk sponges that are either aqueous-based or HFIP-based.

 

 

We followed Step 25H in Rockwood et al. Nature Protocols, 6, 1612-1631 (2011) in background reading and how results we obtained this:

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The following protocols can help with the design and implementation of a variety of silk-based biomaterials for a range of potential applications.

Schematic of the silk fibroin extraction procedure. Going from the raw material (cocoons) to the final aqueous-based solution takes 4 d.

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