FURI | Fall 2024

Silk Fibroin (SF) and SF-Bioceramic Nanobiocomposite Scaffolding Fabricated via Electrospinning for Regenerative Medicine

Regenerative medicine is an emerging field of critical importance to the delivery of healthcare in the 21^st Century. The bioengineering of 3D regenerated tissue utilizing synthetic scaffolds that mimics the extracellular matrix (ECM) and seeded with the patient’s own cells ensures that the recipient will not reject their implant.  This project aims to fabricate silk fibroin (SF) scaffolds utilizing electrospinning processes to initially develop synthetic biopolymer ECM scaffolds. Once accomplished, the second generation scaffold will incorporate a bioceramic component, Hydroxyapatite (HA) that more closely mimics the ECM of hard tissue, e.g., bones. This SF-HA nano-biocomposite scaffold holds promise in orthopedic regenerative medicine applications.