Growing biohybrid scaffolds in the lab: Controlling the culture environment to create biohybrid scaffolds with pre-determined compositions and functio

To facilitate widespread clinical use of tissue engineering it is important to create off-the-shelf scaffolds with the correct architecture, biological and mechanical properties. Synthetic scaffolds, natural polymers and decellularized tissues have drawbacks in functionality, mechanical properties, availability, or effective removal of cellular material that limit their success.
Biohybrid scaffolds combine the advantages of biological components with synthetic scaffolds to avoid these drawbacks. Biohybrid scaffolds generated by culturing ECM-producing cells in vitro on synthetic scaffolds and then decellularizing the resulting construct also have the potential to replicate the complexity of native tissue. However, there is little attention placed on optimising and controlling the quantity and structure of the ECM or the conditions required to promote the generation of specific formulations of biomolecules. Furthermore, most decellularization processes were developed for ex vivo tissues. The impact of these processes on the individual components of lab grown and less mature ECM is poorly characterised and requires significant optimisation.