Organ-on-chip devices are thoroughly studied in academia and industry due to their high potential in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. However, most of the existing organ-on-chip models focus on proof of...

In this work, a nozzle-free electrospinning device was developed to obtain high-throughput production of silk fibroin-based trinary biocompatible composite fibers with tunable wettability. Synthetic fiber materials tend to present suboptimal cell growth and proliferation, with many studies linking this phenomenon to the hydrophobicity of such surfaces. In this study, electrospun mats consisting of Poly(caprolactone) blended with variant forms of Poly(glycerol sebacate) and regenerated silk fibroin were fabricated. The main aim of this work was the development of fiber mats with tunable hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity properties depending on the variant curing forms and concentration of PGS. A variation of the conventional protocol used for the extraction of silk fibroin from Bombyx mori cocoons was employed, achieving significantly increased yields of the protein, in a third of the time required via the conventional protocol. The wettability of the scaffolds could be modulated varying the ratios and curing time of the PGS within the composite fibers. The trinary composite biomaterial presented good in vitro fibroblast attachment behavior and optimal growth, indicating the potential of such constructs towards the development of an artificial skin-like platform that can aid skin regeneration.

A cleanroom-free method to integrate electrodes for transepithelial/transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) measurements in Organ-on-Chips (OoCs) is presented and validated for a gut and a blood-brain barrier model.