COCONUTE · COmpound COatings NUrturing applications in Tissue Engineering
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-09-01 → 2022-12-27
- EU contribution
- €160,932
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
COmpound COatings NUrturing applications in Tissue Engineering
Tissue engineering is a set of technologies aimed at producing artificial biological tissues that can be implanted into living organisms or used to test drugs or treatments on them, among other applications. In the long term, these technologies promise to eliminate the need for donors in organ transplants and to speed up the translation of drugs and medical treatments from the lab to the clinic. However, these long-term goals face several technical challenges whose solution require advances in fundamental fluid-mechanical processes. These advances encompass new techniques to deposit, grow or transport living cells at microscales. The overall objective of the COCONUTE project is to address fundamental multiphase fluid-mechanical problems with immediate application in the characterization and control of microflows relevant to tissue engineering. The more specific objectives we addressed were: a) Developing an experimental non-invasive characterization technique for thin (micrometric) liquid coatings containing several immiscible phases. b) Carrying out a theoretical and numerical study of the formation of compound thin films consisting of two layers. c) Conducting an experimental and theoretical study of the periodic formation of floating liquid drops with volumes in the microliter range. d) Characterizing experimentally and theoretically the inertia-driven flow of a viscous fluid in a porous fiber bundle.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The deposition of particle-laden coatings is key to a number of modern technologies, ranging from semiconductor electronics to bioengineering. In the thriving field of regenerative medicine, deposition processes to manufacture artificial skin in vitro turn out to be particularly challenging. Because skin is composed of several layers with specific cell distributions, space-resolved deposition of cells has to be achieved to obtain viable tissues. However, the delicate nature of living cells and biomaterials strongly limits the number of available techniques, thereby hindering further advances in the field.In this context, COCONUTE emerges as a timely and essential initiative to adapt a well-known technique, dip-coating, to meet the challenges posed by current skin manufacturing technologies. I will investigate, using theoretical and experimental tools, key unknown aspects of the physics of dip-coating in the presence of two liquids, which may have particles in suspension. Gaining further understanding of the physics, I will be able to create compound coatings exhibiting well-controlled arrangements of particles. These particles will have physical properties similar to skin cells to guarantee the applicability of the results to tissue-on-a-chip setups.Not only the time to implement this project is now: the group and supervisors with whom I will carry out my research make a perfect ecosystem for me to turn the project into a success. Being a Soft Matter physicist by training, I will work in a group where fluid mechanicians collaborate routinely with experts in tissue engineering. Thus, the inherent multidisciplinary of the project will allow me to get training in the above-mentioned areas, while also sharing my expertise with the host group. This project will reinforce my chances of becoming an independent researcher in the fields of Soft Matter and Fluid Mechanics, with the focus on state-of-the-art bioengineering applications.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSIDAD CARLOS III DE MADRID · Getafe (Madrid)CoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union