For a tissue scaffold to work, it needs a blood supply — without blood vessels, cells die. Our group engineers porous scaffolds (the sponge!) that allow vessels to grow through them. The pore size and surface chemistry directly affect how well a vessel can navigate.
Growth Factors encourage vessels to expand; Anti-angiogenic Factors slow them down. Electrical stimulation (spacebar!) can also promote vessel growth — a key focus of our electroactive biomaterials research, where conducting polymers are used to guide tissue regeneration.
Explore our research →