NSF RUI: A Combinatory Approach of Low Temperature Plasma and 3D Printing for Highthrouput Materiobiology Screening of Nanoparticle Modified Polymeric Scaffolds

Alabama State University, Montgomery AL

Investigators

Abstract

Nanoparticle-modified polymeric materials have wide utility for several biomedical applications including drug delivery and tissue engineering. The production of these hybrid materials has major challenges such as multi-step, toxicity concerns, and batch-to-batch variability. These limitations prompted the development of processes that are safer, scalable, and produce many samples without batch-to-batch variability. This study proposes to use a combination of 3D printing of polymers with a greener method of plasma (4th state of matter) processing to fabricate gold and silica nanoparticle-modified 3D printed Polymer Materials. The major highlight of this study is the utility of these two scalable and efficient processes to efficiently produce nanoparticle-modified polymer materials. These nanoparticle-modified materials will be used to reliably study the material and biological responses on a large scale. The work will investigate the capability of the gold and silica nanoparticle-modified polymers for osteogenesis or bone-forming potential. This can provide new insights into the relationship between the material properties of nanoparticle-modified polymers and their biological responses that will positively impact the clinical success rate of polymer-nanoparticle hybrid materials for applications like bone tissue engineering. An important component of this project is the focus on training underrepresented minority students at Alabama State University which is a Historically Black College and University. These students will increase the diversity in the Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, which is currently at a very low level. The project also will conduct science outreach activities that can enhance the scientific curiosity and awareness of the general community in the state of Alabama. Students will be involved in conducting this advanced research, and several courses will benefit from the knowledge generated by this project. The current project aims to develop a high throughput screening platform for nanoparticle-modified biomaterials by combining two important and largely scalable techniques, additive manufacturing and plasma processing. Even though the area of nanoparticles and their utility in drug delivery is well explored, the utility of nanoparticle-modified scaffold materials for tissue engineering is highly challenging. This is due to the complexity of the multistep nature of the process, e.g., separate synthesis of the nanoparticle and then subsequent anchoring of the nanoparticles on scaffold surfaces. The toxicity concerns of the nanoparticles are another major concern limiting their application in tissue engineering. The major significance of this work is that it attempts to explore the combination of 3D printing which can design and produce new, consistent, and scalable 3D scaffold designs, and plasma processing, which in one step can stably attach/deposit gold and silica nanoparticles in a green and efficient manner. The osteogenic potential of these nanoparticle-modified 3D scaffolds will be conducted in a Highthrouput manner. Such a hybrid approach can have a significant impact on the materiobiolgy evaluation of nanoparticle-modified 3D scaffold materials. This can improve in vitro approaches and maximize the success rate of further in vivo testing of nanoparticle-modified biomaterials, thus saving time and overall expenses related to preclinical studies. This project is jointly funded by Engineering of Biomedical Systems and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.