Unit-Cell Based Design and Modeling in Tissue Engineering Applications

Abstract

This work makes a three-fold contribution for a unit-cell based methodology for designing tissue scaffolds. We present a study on unit-cell informatics; we also propose computational methods to characterize unit-cells, and finally we develop criteria for connectivity between unit-cells. We will define a set of unit-cell parameters relevant for the geometrical, structural, mechanical, transport, and biological properties in tissue engineering applications. We will also present computation and engineering based approaches to evaluate unit-cell properties. We will also develop a combinatorial framework to study the unit-cell topological connectivity and scaffold properties. Using this information, we will be able to design an interconnected 3D porous scaffold to meet application requirements.

Keywords:

• Topological connectivity
• tissue scaffolding
• multi-scale modeling