Traumatic and chronic wounds are serious clinical conditions that are poorly treated by current technologies. Non-healing wounds require grafting of autologous tissue from a donor site, subjecting the patient to additional deformity and co-morbidity. While many skin substitutes are available in the clinic, none to date are suitable for full thickness wounds and wounds for which no underlying vascular bed exists. We have developed 3D bioprinting technology to fabricate de novo biological tissue volumes that theoretically can be fit to any tissue location or size. Furthermore, in collaboration with Dr. Jason Spector, noted plastic surgeon at Weill Cornell Medical College, we have fabricated vascular tracts within these neo-tissues that have the capacity to be sutured to the host vascular supply. These innovations enable the potential for this graft technology to thrive and integrate in these difficult wound areas. One challenge however is how to design the vascular network to attain sufficient volume perfusion with optimal fluid flow characteristics regardless of the desired volume. This MEng project will use computational modeling and analytical techniques to design and evaluate 3D vascular lumen networks, and develop a tunable network algorithm. We will then 3D print and quantify the fluid flow and tissue perfusion of the network. This versatile system will dramatically improve our ability to treat large wound beds without causing additional harm to the patient.
Advisor Name: Jonathan Butcher
- Email - jtb47@cornell.edu
Co-Advisor Name: Jason Spector
- Email – jas2037@med.cornell.edu
Interested candidates should email a statement of interest and suitability of background/training, an updated resume, and a fall semester class schedule to Jonathan Butcher (jtb47@cornell.edu). Teams of students are also accepted.