Ultrasound Enhanced Tissue Engineering

The PhD project undertaken by Matthew Philpott in the Cambridge Centre for Medical Materials, University of Cambridge aims to develop an academic understanding of freeze-dried collagen scaffolds in tissue engineering. The project will explore the potential of ultrasound enhanced tissue engineering approaches to improve transport and delivery of oxygen and nutrients. The issues will be considered separately at first.

- The effect of ultrasound-enhanced transport of nutrients mediated by nanocups.

Nanocup mediated cavitational microstreaming will be studied as a potential method of improving nutrient convection and also for providing mechanical stimulation to the seeded scaffold. The steps involved will include: manufacturing ice templated scaffolds with variations in structural characteristics such as orientation, pore size, microstructure and crosslink density; testing the cavitation threshold of the collagen scaffolds; exploring methods to incorporate nanocups into the scaffold. Later stages will include assessment of the quantity, quality and distribution of the cellular proliferation in the scaffold.

- The effect of ultrasound-enhanced oxygen delivery on tissue growth

This will involve initial dissolved oxygen measurements in the scaffold, demonstration of the ability to modulate this local oxygen level through micro-nano oxygen carriers triggered by ultrasound, and quantification of the impact thtat this has on cellular proliferation