Mineralized collagen biomaterials for studying bone biology in vitro

Craniomaxillofacial injuries are injuries to the neck, face, and jaw. Trauma-induced craniomaxillofacial injuries present unique clinical challenges because they are oftentimes large and complex in size and shape. Clinical solutions, the autograft and allograft, are inadequate due to tissue availability (autograft) and variability in purification methods (allograft). Tissue engineering strategies are needed to develop implants that can regenerate these large-scale craniomaxillofacial injures. Our lab has developed a class of mineralized collagen scaffolds that contain collagen, glycosaminoglycans, and a calcium phosphate mineral phase. These materials promote osteogenesis in vitro and in vivo, but we have recently observed poor healing in a critical size in vivo mandible injury due to poor cell infiltration, osteogenesis, and vascular ingrowth. Thus, this dissertation focuses on the enhancement of our mineralized collagen platform to improve and evaluate cell metabolic health and proliferation, osteogenesis, and angiogenesis. We first describe material changes regarding mineral content and growth factor supplementation with the goal to improve mesenchymal stem cell proliferation and osteogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Further, we describe a comprehensive study of donor variability within our materials. This work was motivated by the need to have consistent healing between patients, and we demonstrate the ability to evaluate osteogenic potential of mesenchymal stem cells from eight donors. We then transition into the culture of other relevant cell types in the bone microenvironment: endothelial cells and osteoclasts. Here, we illustrate the potential of our mineralized collagen scaffolds as complex cell culture systems and discuss the future of our materials to study cell-cell interactions and disease progression in vitro. Finally, we motivate a paradigm shift in how we design materials for bone repair by discussing a developmental tissue that is critical for skeletal growth: the growth plates. Overall, this dissertation describes material changes to influence cell activity and proliferation and the potential of our materials to model bone repair processes in vitro.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Chemical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Tiffany, Aleczandria Skye

Contributors dc:contributor

• Harley, Brendan
• Kraft, Mary
• Kong, Hyunjoon
• Wagoner-Johnson, Amy

• bone
• tissue engineering
• osteogenesis
• growth plate

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Aleczandria Tiffany

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116156

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F116156