The use of polymers in regenerative medicine as a scaffolding material is far from clinical translation primarily due to the lack of control over mechanical properties and proper architecture to promote cell attachment and proliferation. Cellulose, a natural polymer produced by the majority of plants, can be assembled into nanofibrils by bacteria. The advantage of bacterial cellulose is that it has unique biocompatibility, mechanical integrity, hydroexpansivity, and stability under a wide range of conditions. Bacterial cellulose is thus ideal as a scaffolding material on which to seed cells for applications in regenerative medicine. The bacteria Acetobacter Xylinum produces nanoscale cellulose ribbons at an average rate of 2�m/min. We have developed a new biofabrication process in which bacterial motion is precisely controlled using electric fields.  This technology can be used to fabricate customizable networksof cellulose nanofibrils for implants, biomedical devices or tissue scaffolds.

Biofabrication with electrical control to create biocompatible materials

239th National Meeting (2010)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.