Developing Biodegradable Elastic Hydrogels for 3D Tissue Engineering
BioE Professor Guohao Dai was awarded a patent for “Biodegradable elastic hydrogels for bioprinting.”
Abstract Source: USPTO
Disclosed herein are hydrogel compositions comprising a triblock copolymer having a formula A-B-A, wherein A is a polycaprolactone (PCL) block or a polyvalerolactone (PVL) block and B is a polyethylene glycol (PEG) block. Also disclosed are methods of making a hydrogel comprising providing a photoinitiator and a triblock copolymer having a formula A-B-A, wherein the triblock copolymer comprises one or more ethylenically unsaturated moieties; and photocrosslinking the triblock copolymer, thereby forming a hydrogel. Also disclosed are methods of printing a three-dimensional (3D) article comprising extruding a printing composition from a deposition nozzle moving relative to a substrate, the printing composition comprising a photoinitiator and any herein disclosed triblock copolymer, wherein the triblock copolymer comprises one or more ethylenically unsaturated moieties; depositing one or more layers comprising the printing composition on the substrate; and photocrosslinking the triblock copolymer to form the printed 3D article.
