Functionally Graded 3D-Printed Scaffolds through Direct Ink Writing: Bridging Ceramics and Metals for Enhanced Multifunctionality

Over two million bone grafts are performed worldwide, each year. The preferred method is using autografts, but there are two important downsides. There is often insufficient tissue to harvest and the scar at the harvesting side is painfull for the patient. Therefore there exists a great need to improve synthetic grafts.<br/><br/>Traditionally,...

Computational Predictive Modeling of a Novel Pulmonary Valved Conduit

Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects almost 1% of newborns. Right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) CHD affects 20% of newborns and includes anomalies such as tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with or without pulmonary atresia, transposition of the great vessels, and truncus arteriosus. All these anomalies require RVOT reconstruction. Prosthetic heart...

Exploring the Correlation Between Functional Gradients in Material Properties and Solute Diffusion Across the Osteochondral Interface

The solute transport across the osteochondral (OC) interface is of crucial metabolic importance for a normal function of articular cartilage, and, therefore, for the OC interface as a whole. A better understanding how the mechanical- and physiological properties of the OC interface affect the solute transport across the OC interface could lead...

Two-Photon Polymerization 4D Printing of Mechanical Metamaterials

Shape morphing is a prevalent feature in all living organisms. Incorporating shape-morphing capabilities into engineered scaffolds in the field of tissue engineering by virtue of 4D printing would allow for structures to closely mimic in-vivo conditions, and dynamically interact with changing cellular microenvironments. Engineered scaffolds...

Advancing Temporomandibular Joint Implant Design: Exploring the Impact of Functionally Graded Materials at the Site of the Prosthetic Joint

The mechanical failure of a temporomandibular joint (TMJ) replacement system can stem from various factors, with one notable cause being the unnatural kinematics and loading observed in prosthetic joint function. Given that,. the primary objective of the study was to investigate whether including functionally graded materials (FGMs) at the site...

Joint simulation made modular and universal: Design of a novel patient and task specific hip kinematic simulation mechanism

Development of crumpled-based meta-biomaterials as bone filling substituents

Bone defects are a common problem in healthcare today. When the damage is too extensive, the human body is not able to heal itself. Different solutions are available, but they all have limitations. Therefore, the search for a solution to overcome these limitations is important. In this theses a way to create a scaffold out of seperate crumpled...

AI-Based Inverse Design of Random Network Metamaterials

Mechanical metamaterials are materials that appear to have unusual elastic mechanical properties, with the most prominent being a negative Poisson’s ratio. The key to their unique properties lies in the microarchitecture of the material rather than the material itself. For advanced applications in the realm of prosthetics, such as form matching,...

A Characterization Method for Hard-Soft Material Interfaces in Structural Optimization

The distribution of multiple materials within a single structure is a strategy that various biological systems rely on to achieve outstanding mechanical performances. These biological examples illustrate the effective utilization of hard rigid and soft flexible materials in particular. The proper composition of such hard-soft materials exceeds...

Property-based functional gradients for biomimetic composites

Functional gradients in hard-soft interfaces are abundant in nature, and we often mimic them to create strong and tough composites. A powerful tool for the designs and fabrication of biomimetic composites is voxel-based multi-material 3D printing. Earlier researches mainly focused on using this technique in the creation of gradients based on...

Development of a Workflow for Designing Patient-Specific Mandibular Reconstruction Implants and Predicting their Performance through Experimentally Validated Finite Element Models

Restoration of the normal mandibular form and function is attempted with reconstructive surgery. The current standard procedure to restore continuity defects of the mandible involves free tissue transfer with an autologous bone flap. Even though the success rates are high, several critical drawbacks have been associated with this procedure,...

Design and fabrication of 3D-printed hard-soft interfaces made from PLA and hydrogel

The mechanical properties of biological hard-soft interfaces change gradually over a small surface area to prevent the formation of stress concentrations through variations in the interface’s chemical composition, microstructure and geometry. The bone-tendon/ligament and bone-cartilage interface are the most prominent hard-soft interfaces within...

The effect of scaffolds with a negative, zero, or positive Poisson’s ratio on pre-osteoblastic (MC3T3-E1) cell response

Bone tissue engineering (BTE) researches the characteristics which are needed to create the ultimate bone scaffold which enhances cell response. Limited research has been done regarding the effect of the Poisson’s ratio on the scaffold-cell interaction. In this graduation project we therefore explore the cell response on scaffolds with a...