Research Projects

Project entails the fabrication of mulberry and nonmulberry silk fibroin scaffolds as a stratagem to mimic the complex architecture and biophysicochemical cues for 3D bone regeneration. The first phase of the project was focused on optimization of alkali based chopping protocol of silk fibers along with the assessment of their length and degradation profile. 3D scaffolds were fabricated using chopped cocoon-derived fibers incorporated into fibroin solutions of either of the two silk varieties along with a porogen through a layer-by-layer approach. In vitro assessment showed that MG63 cells appeared as spindle shaped and well attached with confluent distribution on the fiber-reinforced scaffolds. In the final phase of the work, we had resorted to an alternate calcium phosphate dipcoating method to investigate the effect of mineralization of silk solution-fiber reinforced scaffolds on proliferation of MG63 cells with and without osteogenic supplements. 40 mg/scaffold of HA was deposited on both the mulberry and nonmulberry scaffolds. HA deposition not only led to nanotexturing of the scaffolds but also led to decrease in swelling ratio in comparison to scaffolds without HA coating. Alamar Blue assay and Live/Dead assay evinced the proliferation and viability while ALP quantification was suggestive of timecourse dependent enhancedmineralization even in the absence of osteogenic supplement in the medium. Thus, the fabricated silk fiber-reinforced silk fibroin scaffolds with HA deposition are envisaged to support cell proliferation and their functional expression for prospective bone tissue engineering, although additional in vitro and in vivo assessments are inevitable.