Jenna Shapiro: Mineral Blooms on Electrospun Fibres
Electrospinning is a facile method of producing fibres with micrometer to nanometer-scale diameters. Briefly, fibres are created when a charge instability is produced in a polymer solution or melt, drawing it toward a grounded collector. Such materials are especially interesting for tissue engineering applications, as the fibre sizes are similar to those of fibrillar proteins and molecules found in the extracellular matrix of cells. The electrospun fibres pictured are composed of polycaprolactone, a polymer that is commonly used in biomedical applications.
Minieralisation via an alternate soaking process has produced deposits of calcium phosphate with differing stoichiometric ratios. The smaller, rounder minerals are hydroxyapatite, the principal mineral component of bone. The larger, plate-like minerals are dicalcium phosphate. This composite material could potentially be used as a scaffold for bone tissue engineering.
This scanning electron micrograph (5,000 X magnification) was taken using a Zeiss EVO LS 15 scanning electron microscope. The sample was gold sputter-coated prior to imaging to improve conductivity. Brightness and contrast adjustment, and false colour were applied using Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Acknowledgements: Anne Bahnweg, Dr. Daniel Strange, Khaow Tonsomboon, Oliver Armitage
Jenna Shapiro: Mineral Blooms on Electrospun Fibres
Electrospinning is a facile method of producing fibres with micrometer to nanometer-scale diameters. Briefly, fibres are created when a charge instability is produced in a polymer solution or melt, drawing it toward a grounded collector. Such materials are especially interesting for tissue engineering applications, as the fibre sizes are similar to those of fibrillar proteins and molecules found in the extracellular matrix of cells. The electrospun fibres pictured are composed of polycaprolactone, a polymer that is commonly used in biomedical applications.
Minieralisation via an alternate soaking process has produced deposits of calcium phosphate with differing stoichiometric ratios. The smaller, rounder minerals are hydroxyapatite, the principal mineral component of bone. The larger, plate-like minerals are dicalcium phosphate. This composite material could potentially be used as a scaffold for bone tissue engineering.
This scanning electron micrograph (5,000 X magnification) was taken using a Zeiss EVO LS 15 scanning electron microscope. The sample was gold sputter-coated prior to imaging to improve conductivity. Brightness and contrast adjustment, and false colour were applied using Adobe Photoshop CS6.
Acknowledgements: Anne Bahnweg, Dr. Daniel Strange, Khaow Tonsomboon, Oliver Armitage