Sandra Amado

By Paulo A.S. Armada-da-Silva, C. Pereira, S. Amado, A. Luís and A.C. Maurício

Part of the book: Peripheral Neuropathy

By Sandra Amado, Pedro Morouço, Paula Pascoal-Faria and Nuno Alves

The vision to unravel and develop biological healing mechanisms based on evolving molecular and cellular technologies has led to a worldwide scientific endeavor to establish regenerative medicine. This is a multidisciplinary field that involves basic and preclinical research and development on the repair, replacement, and regrowth or regeneration of cells, tissues, or organs in both diseases (congenital or acquired) and traumas. A total of over 63,000 patients were officially placed on organs’ waiting lists on 31 December 2013 in the European Union (European Commission, 2014). Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have emerged as promising fields to achieve proper solutions for these concerns. However, we are far from having patient-specific tissue engineering scaffolds that mimic the native tissue regarding both structure and function. The proposed chapter is a qualitative review over the biomaterials, processes, and scaffold designs for tailored bioprinting. Relevant literature on bioengineered scaffolds for regenerative medicine will be updated. It is well known that mechanical properties play significant effects on biologic behavior which highlight the importance of an extensively discussion on tailoring biomechanical properties for bioengineered scaffolds. The following topics will be discussed: scaffold design, biomaterials and scaffolds bioactivity, biofabrication processes, scaffolds biodegradability, and cell viability. Moreover, new insights will be pointed out.

Part of the book: Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine

By Cristiana Fernandes, Carla Moura, Rita M.T. Ascenso, Sandra Amado, Nuno Alves and Paula Pascoal-Faria

Over the last decades, the number of work accidents associated with bone fractures has increased leading to a growing concern worldwide. Currently, autografts, allografts, and xenografts are used for bone regeneration. However, their application has associated risks. Tissue engineering (TE) has brought solutions to address these problems, through the production of temporary supports, providing mechanical support to the formation of new bone tissue and biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds, which allow cell adhesion and proliferation to ensure bone formation. The combination of materials and structure with the technique to be used will directly influence their physical and chemical properties and, consequently, their action in contributing to bone regeneration. Thus, the focus of this chapter is to perform an exhaustive literature review and a critical analysis of the state of the art in bone TE and present a proposal of an optimized temporary support geometry for bone regeneration in case of large bone defects. For this, it was listed and identified the best choice of biomaterials, fabrication method, cell type and their culture conditions (static vs. dynamic), and/or the inclusion of growth factors for the repair of large bone defects.

Part of the book: Design and Manufacturing