Tuning Hydrogels for Peripheral Nerve Tissue Engineering

Hydrogels are widely used as scaffolds for tissue engineering since their high water contents mimic native tissue and support cell function for new tissue to come in. An ideal scaffold must degrade at an appropriate rate that allows the regenerating nerve tissue to replace it. This experiment aims to characterize the degradation behavior of various systematically formulated hydrogels by measuring changes in their physical and chemical properties overtime. By regulating formulation ratios and crosslinking mechanisms, we can observe changes in mass, volume, and chemical structure through procedures such as FTIR.

Intern: Ishi Duvedi

Mentor: Jenny Boothby (REDD/R3A)