Electroactive Scaffold

Current scaffold designs and materials do not provide all of the appropriate cues necessary to mimic in-vivo conditions for tissue engineering and stem cell engineering applications. It has been hypothesized that many biomaterials, such as bone, muscle, brain and heart tissue exhibit piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties. Typical cell seeding environments incorporate biochemical cues and more recently mechanical stimuli, however, electrical cues have just recently been incorporated in standard in-vitro examinations. In order to develop their potential further, novel scaffolds are required to provide adequate cues in the in-vitro environment to direct stem cells to differentiate down controlled pathways or develop novel tissue constructs. This invention is for a scaffold that provides for such cues by mimicking the native biological environment, including biochemical, topographical, mechanical and electrical cues. This technology, developed at NASA's Langley Research Center in collaboration with scientists at Duke University, is a novel three-dimensional scaffold structure that utilizes electroactive fibers for tissue and/or stem cell engineering. This invention enables electroactive fibers to be assembled into three-dimensional scaffolds to more closely mimic the native biological environment by providing biochemical, mechanical, and electrical cues.