Precision Porous Hydrogel Scaffold Seeded with Microglia: An array of neural tissue engineering scaffolds with varying material properties were fabricated and seeded with BV2 microglia to investigate the impact of these material properties on neuroinflammation in vitro. (Credit: Lars Crawford)
Multichannel Stand-Alone Conductive Hydrogel Electrode Prototype: Proof-of-concept design for a wholly organic, immunomodulatory multichannel electrode composed of stand-alone conductive hydrogels embedded in a porous scaffold. (Credit: Lars Crawford)
The primary aim of this work involves the design, synthesis, and characterization of new materials to contribute to the ongoing shift in the field of neural engineering towards softer and more flexible implantable devices that mitigate the negative impacts of gliosis on device functionality.
Through the integration of select hydrophilic and conductive components, we have developed a range of biomaterials with tunable multifunctionality including:
- Electroactivity
- Mechanical compliance
- Porosity
- Modifiable surface chemistry
We are investigating how variations in these properties impact the reactivity of neuroinflammatory cells to optimize the materials for application to neural microelectrodes and neural tissue engineering scaffolds. The novel material composition we have designed also enables the rapid, one-pot photochemical synthesis of conductive hydrogels composed of a hybrid, interpenetrating polymer network with potential applications to photopatterning and stereolithographic 3D printing techniques. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide additional tools in the neural engineering toolbox toward the development of a wholly organic, immunomodulatory neuroelectronic interface.
Keywords: bio-integrated recording electrodes, conductive hydrogels
Active Researcher(s): Lars Crawford
Rapid Photochemical Conductive Hydrogel Synthesis: The novel composition we have designed enables the rapid, parallel polymerization of conductive and hydrogel polymers in the formation of an interpenetrating polymer network. (Credit: Lars Crawford)
Rapid Photochemical Photopatterning Prototype: Proof-of-concept application of the one-pot composition to photopatterning. (Credit: Lars Crawford)
Protein Immobilization: Incorporation of monomers with -COOH groups enables facile surface modification via NHS/EDC crosslinking chemistry. (Credit: Lars Crawford)