606 documents found, page 1 of 61
Microparticles orchestrating cell fate in bottom-up approaches
Maciel, Marta M.; Correia, Tiago R.; Henriques, Mariana; Mano, J. F.The modulation of cells in tissue formation is still one of the hardest tasks to achieve in Tissue Engineering. To control the cell response when undergoing their normal functions such as adhesion, differentiation, assembly, or maturation is vital the development of more successful solutions. Herein, we discuss how microparticles are being overlooked in their potential for controlling the cellular response. Unt...
Advanced hydrogels based on natural macromolecules: chemical routes to achieve ...
Mortier, C.; Costa, D. C. S.; Oliveira, M. B.; Haugen, H. J.; Lyngstadaas, S. P.; Blaker, J. J.; Mano, J. F.Advances in synthetic routes to chemically modify natural macromolecules such as polysaccharides and proteins have allowed designing functional hydrogels able to tackle current challenges in the biomedical field. Hydrogels are hydrophilic three-dimensional systems able to absorb or retain a large volume of water, prepared from a low percentage of precursor macromolecules. The typical fragile elastic structure o...
Partial coated stem cells with bioinspired silica as new generation of cellular...
Maciel, Marta M.; Correia, Tiago R.; Gaspar, Vítor M.; Rodrigues, João M. M.; Choi, Insung S.; Mano, J. F.The manipulation of cell surfaces in anchorage-dependent cells can help overcome difficulties presented during cell handling and application. Silica-based protective mechanisms existing in free-floating microorganisms may be used as inspiration for sustaining human cell survival in suspension. Gathering on this, herein human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) are partially coated with a hard silica ...
Shaping Soft Structures Using Bottom-up Layer-by-layer Assembly Technology for ...
Borges, J.; Sousa, C. F. V.; Bjorge, I. M.; Nadine, S.; Correia, C. R.; Patrício, S. G.; Mano, J. F.Layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly is an easier, inexpensive, and highly versatile bottom-up methodology to modify surfaces and fabricate functional multilayer thin films and nanocomposites with fine-tuned compositions, structures, properties, and functions at the nanoscale. Since the early stages of its development, LbL technology has gathered increasing attention across different fields of application, including i...
Extending the Functionality of Marine-origin Polysaccharides Through Chemical M...
Rodrigues, João M. M.; Castanheira, E. J.; Costa, D. C. S.; Rocha, D. H. A.; Borges, J.; Mano, J. F.Natural polysaccharides are a major class of biomacromolecules with a high degree of biocompatibility, biodegradability, and ability to mimic the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) microenvironment and, therefore, have been receiving increasing attention. Polysaccharides often exhibit interesting and advantageous properties, including bioactivity, different functional groups, and bioadhesive properties, as well...
Stimuli-responsive Nanocomposite Hydrogels Incorporating Soft Nanoparticles for...
Lavrador, P.; Borges, J.; Gaspar, V. M.; Mano, J. F.Soft nanoparticles represent a unique class of nanomaterials that can be engineered to react and adapt distinctly in different biological milieus while modulating the presentation of biochemical and biophysical cues to neighbouring receptive cells. This flexibility has fuelled the development of soft nanoparticle-laden nanocomposite hydrogels that are increasingly sophisticated in stimuli-responsiveness and pro...
Animal protein-based soft materials for tissue engineering applications
Custódio, C. A.; Santos, S. C.; Monteiro, C. F.; Deus, I. A.; Gomes, M. C.; Mano, J. F.Proteins have long been used in coatings for cell culture plates and to supplement cell culture media. Due to their unmatched biocompatibility, biodegradability, bioactivity and immune-privilege, the interest in proteins rapidly advanced for the design and engineering of more complex substrates for biomedical applications. In this chapter, the proteins typically used in the design and fabrication of biomedical ...
Chapter 25. Decellularized Matrix Hydrogels for In Vitro Disease Modeling
Ferreira, L. P.; Monteiro, M. V.; Gaspar, V. M.; Mano, J. F.The extracellular matrix (ECM) operates as a complex network of cell-supporting macromolecules in tissue homeostasis and disease scenarios. Given ECM structural and bio-signaling roles, understanding and modeling matrix components and their dysfunction in disease is crucial for the development of novel therapeutic approaches for numerous pathologies including pulmonary, renal and intestinal fibrosis, osteoarthr...
Thin silica-based microsheets with controlled geometry
Maciel, Marta; Patrício, Sónia G.; Borges, João; Levkin, Pavel A.; Correia, Tiago R.; Mano, J. F.A high demand for materials with defined geometry and size is required in a wide range of fields. Inorganic compounds, especially silica-based, arise as a cheap source and chemically flexible for the purpose. Silica display unique properties, like easy functionalization and good optical features making an interesting material to manipulate. In this work, we developed a method to create thin silica microsheets w...
Oxidized cashew gum scaffolds for tissue engineering
Maciel, Jeanny S.; Azevedo, Sara; Correia, Clara R.; Costa, Ana M. S.; Costa, Rui Filipe Ramos; Magalhães, Francisco A.; Monteiro, Aliny Abreu deIn the last few years, several strategies have been proposed to fabricate scaffolds for tissue engineering (TE) applications; however, they are based on harsh and timeâ consuming techniques. The choice for natural polymers such as cashew gum (CG) allows to circumvent the demands of biocompatibility and degradability of TE systems. In this work, CG, a polysaccharide derived from Anacardium occidentale trees, is ...