One goal of biofabrication is to incorporate living cells into artificial scaffolds in order to repair damaged tissues or organs. Although there are many studies on various biofabrication techniques, the maintenance of cell viability during the biofabrication process and cell proliferation after the process is still a challenging issue. Construction of scaffolds using hydrogels composed of natural materials can avoid exposure of cells to harsh chemicals or temperature extremes but can still entail exposure to nonphysiological conditions, causing cell damage or even death. This paper presents an experimental investigation into the influence on Schwann cell survival and proliferation of calcium used for ionic crosslinking of alginate hydrogel during the biofabrication process. The experimental results obtained show the viability and proliferation capacity of cells, either suspended in cell culture medium or encapsulated in hydrogel, and vary with the calcium concentration and the time period of cells exposed to the calcium environment. The experimental results also show the alginate concentration and cell density, that have profound influence on cell survival and proliferation, and solution viscosity as well. This study suggests the incorporation of living cells in calcium-crosslinked hydrogel in the biofabrication process can be regulated for controlled cell survival and proliferation.

No abstract

No abstract

Vibration is often a problem causing poor quality of photon beams at synchrotron radiation facilities, since beamlines are quite sensitive to vibrations. Therefore, vibration analysis and control at synchrotron radiation facilities is crucial. This paper presents investigations on mechanical vibrations at four beamlines and endstations at the Canadian Light Source, i.e. the Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility 08ID-1 beamline, the Hard X-ray MicroAnalysis 06ID-1 beamline, the Resonant Elastic and Inelastic Soft X-ray Scattering 10ID-2 beamline, and the Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope endstation at the Spectromicroscopy 10ID-1 beamline. This study identifies vibration sources and investigates the influence of mechanical vibrations on beamline performance. The results show that vibrations caused by movable mechanical equipment significantly affect the data acquired from beamlines.