Vascular Networks For Tissue Engineering

Controlling mass transport and building a fully functional vasculature are vital for producing tissue in clinically relevant dimensions. Vasculature is also relevant to other problems in tissue engineering, such as surgical implantation and in vivo integration, since vessel ingrowth and/or anastomosis is considered important to the viability of most implanted tissues. We have employed several approaches to develop vascular networks, including co-culture systems or/and the use of microfabrication technologies to engineer microfluidic channels within biocompatible materials. The group is also working on automatic generation of computational models of 3D vascular networks that satisfy the physiological requirements in terms of fluid flow and therefore allow long-term survival of cells in a 3D tissue. The model accounts for physical constraints (flow conservation, pressure consistency), physiological constraints (minimum network volume, Murray’s law, no short-circuit intersections), and manufacturing constraints (minimum feature sizes, infill prevention).