Research Projects

Nerve injuries resulting in longer gaps require tissue grafts between the proximal and distal nerve stumps. Despite decades of research, no artificial graft/conduit has shown superior performance than autografts. Tissue engineered grafts are limited to being effective only for small size defects due to inability to restore physical properties, failure to induce electrical or chemical stimulation, and poor efficiency to replicate the complex architecture of native nerves. Electrospinning is a well-explored fabrication technique to create nerve scaffolds, but it does not match the mechanical properties and 3D complex architecture of nerve tissue. 3D printing has emerged as a new fabrication tool to precisely fabricate 3D structures with micronscale resolution. This study aims to combine 3D printing and electrospinning to precisely replicate the 3D architecture of nerve conduits and reinforce them with features to offer electrical and chemical stimuli to regulate endogenous nerve repair mechanisms. The proposed method aims to develop an effective method to fabricate multi-scale biomimetic nerve conduits to enhance functional recovery of large-gap peripheral nerve injuries. The 3D printed poly (l-lactide-co-epsilon-caprolactone) (PLCL) matrix will be subjected to electrospinning of aligned PCL (poly-epsilon-caprolactone) nanofibers encapsulated with nerve growth factor. The construct will be rolled in to spiral conduits and sealed using tissue glue. This combination of fabrication tools, additional features, and changes in surgical design will further improve conduit performance both in vitro and in vivo.