Materials Design Innovations in Optimizing Cellular Behavior on Melt Electrowritten (MEW) Scaffolds

Abstract

The field of melt electrowriting (MEW) has seen significant progress, bringing innovative advancements to the fabrication of biomaterial scaffolds, and creating new possibilities for applications in tissue engineering and beyond. Multidisciplinary collaboration across materials science, computational modeling, AI, bioprinting, microfluidics, and dynamic culture systems offers promising new opportunities to gain deeper insights into complex biological systems. As the focus shifts towards personalized medicine and reduced reliance on animal models, the multidisciplinary approach becomes indispensable. This review provides a concise overview of current strategies and innovations in controlling and optimizing cellular responses to MEW scaffolds, highlighting the potential of scaffold material, MEW architecture, and computational modeling tools to accelerate the development of efficient biomimetic systems. Innovations in material science and the incorporation of biologics into MEW scaffolds have shown great potential in adding biomimetic complexity to engineered biological systems. These techniques pave the way for exciting possibilities for tissue modeling and regeneration, personalized drug screening, and cell therapies.

Integration of melt electrowritten microfibers with magnetoelastic sensors for continuous monitoring of cell growth

“…MEW has been commonly employed to develop scaffolds for 3D cell culture. 41 Several studies have highlighted the significance of the scaffold geometry, including pore size, shape, fiber diameter, and stiffness, as a key factor that can influence cellular behavior. 52,53 In particular, a recent study investigating osteogenesis in hMSCs demonstrated the benefits of using 100 μm square PCL scaffolds fabricated via MEW.…”

“…39,40 Furthermore, MEW has the capacity to process various materials, including functionalizable polymers and material composites, making it a versatile technique. 41 While MEW has been primarily used for fabricating scaffolds with custom microstructures and mechanical properties that mimic the extracellular matrix, 42–44 this work focuses on integrating defined MEW structures onto the magnetoelastic sensor surface to enhance the sensor's performance in monitoring cell growth. Cells have been previously reported to attach and grow with a non-uniform density across magnetoelastic sensor surfaces.…”

Streamlining the highly reproducible fabrication of fibrous biomedical specimens towards standardization and high throughput

“…Since scaffold geometry in uences cells, we assessed the impact of reinforcements on deformationprone scaffolds utilizing thin MEW PCL scaffolds with triangular patterns. 45 These scaffolds were chosen due to their susceptibility to delamination and overall di culty in handling, attributed to low layerto-layer adhesion and thin ber diameters. Murine Astrocytes, known for their sensitivity and preference for speci c scaffold geometries like triangular grids, 46,47 were employed for this study to promote cell spreading conducive to proliferation.…”