Partner: Jan Guzowski

Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)

Recent publications
1.Rinoldi C., Costantini M., Kijeńska-Gawrońska E., Testa S., Fornetti E., Heljak M., Ćwiklińska M., Buda R., Baldi J., Cannata S., Guzowski J., Gargioli C., Khademhosseini A., Święszkowski W., Tendon tissue engineering: effects of mechanical and biochemical stimulation on stem cell alignment on cell‐laden hydrogel yarns, ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS, ISSN: 2192-2659, DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201801218, Vol.8, No.7, pp.1801218-1-10, 2019
Abstract:

Fiber-based approaches hold great promise for tendon tissue engineering enabling the possibility of manufacturing aligned hydrogel filaments that can guide collagen fiber orientation, thereby providing a biomimetic micro-environment for cell attachment, orientation, migration, and proliferation. In this study, a 3D system composed of cell-laden, highly aligned hydrogel yarns is designed and obtained via wet spinning in order to reproduce the morphology and structure of tendon fascicles. A bioink composed of alginate and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) is optimized for spinning and loaded with human bone morrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBM-MSCs). The produced scaffolds are subjected to mechanical stretching to recapitulate the strains occurring in native tendon tissue. Stem cell differentiation is promoted by addition of bone morphogenetic protein 12 (BMP-12) in the culture medium. The aligned orientation of the fibers combined with mechanical stimulation results in highly preferential longitudinal cell orientation and demonstrates enhanced collagen type I and III expression. Additionally, the combination of biochemical and mechanical stimulations promotes the expression of specific tenogenic markers, signatures of efficient cell differentiation towards tendon. The obtained results suggest that the proposed 3D cell-laden aligned system can be used for engineering of scaffolds for tendon regeneration.

Keywords:

hydrogel fibers, static mechanical stretching, stem cell alignment, tenogenic differentiation, wet spinning

Affiliations:
Rinoldi C.-other affiliation
Costantini M.-Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Kijeńska-Gawrońska E.-Warsaw University of Technology (PL)
Testa S.-Tor Vergata Rome University (IT)
Fornetti E.-Tor Vergata Rome University (IT)
Heljak M.-Warsaw University of Technology (PL)
Ćwiklińska M.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Buda R.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Baldi J.-Tor Vergata Rome University (IT)
Cannata S.-Tor Vergata Rome University (IT)
Guzowski J.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Gargioli C.-Tor Vergata Rome University (IT)
Khademhosseini A.-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Święszkowski W.-other affiliation
2.Costantini M., Guzowski J., Żuk P.J., Mozetic P., De Panfilis S., Jaroszewicz J., Heljak M., Massimi M., Pierron M., Trombetta M., Dentini M., Święszkowski W., Rainer A., Garstecki P., Barbetta A., Electric Field Assisted Microfluidic Platform for Generation of Tailorable Porous Microbeads as Cell Carriers for Tissue Engineering, Advanced Functional Materials, ISSN: 1616-301X, DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201800874, Vol.28, pp.1800874-1-13, 2018
Abstract:

Injection of cell‐laden scaffolds in the form of mesoscopic particles directly to the site of treatment is one of the most promising approaches to tissue regeneration. Here, a novel and highly efficient method is presented for preparation of porous microbeads of tailorable dimensions (in the range ≈300–1500 mm) and with a uniform and fully interconnected internal porous texture. The method starts with generation of a monodisperse oil‐in‐water emulsion inside a flow‐focusing microfluidic device. This emulsion is later broken‐up, with the use of electric field, into mesoscopic double droplets, that in turn serve as a template for the porous microbeads. By tuning the amplitude and frequency of the electric pulses, the template droplets and the resulting porous bead scaffolds are precisely produced. Furthermore, a model of pulsed electrodripping is proposed that predicts the size of the template droplets as a function of the applied voltage. To prove the potential of the porous microbeads as cell carries, they are tested with human mesenchymal stem cells and hepatic cells, with their viability and degree of microbead colonization being monitored. Finally, the presented porous microbeads are benchmarked against conventional microparticles with nonhomogenous internal texture, revealing their superior performance.

Affiliations:
Costantini M.-Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Guzowski J.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Żuk P.J.-IPPT PAN
Mozetic P.-Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (IT)
De Panfilis S.-Sapienza Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IT)
Jaroszewicz J.-other affiliation
Heljak M.-Warsaw University of Technology (PL)
Massimi M.-University of L’Aquila (IT)
Pierron M.-Telecom Physique Strasbourg (FR)
Trombetta M.-Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (IT)
Dentini M.-Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Święszkowski W.-other affiliation
Rainer A.-Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma (IT)
Garstecki P.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Barbetta A.-Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
3.Guzowski J., Jakieła S., Korczyk P.M., Garstecki P., Custom tailoring multiple droplets one-by-one, LAB ON A CHIP, ISSN: 1473-0197, DOI: 10.1039/c3lc50841b, Vol.13, pp.4308-4311, 2013
Abstract:

We report automated generation of arbitrary sequences of multiple microdroplets with online and individual control over the number of cores and volumes of all the constituents (cores and shells) of each of the multiple droplets. We show that a given sequence of volumes of the cores always folds to the same final three-dimensional architecture. The method presents the first proof-of-concept for the ability to design the three-dimensional structure of multiple droplets. We discuss the potential use of the technique in the formulation of predetermined distribution of drug release capsules and for automated generation of functional chemical microdroplet networks.

Keywords:

multiple droplets, microfluidics

Affiliations:
Guzowski J.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Jakieła S.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Korczyk P.M.-IPPT PAN
Garstecki P.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
4.Guzowski J., Korczyk P.M., Jakieła S., Garstecki P., The structure and stability of multiple micro-droplets, SOFT MATTER, ISSN: 1744-683X, DOI: 10.1039/c2sm25838b, Vol.8, pp.3269-3278, 2012
Abstract:

Microfluidic droplet-on-demand systems allow the controllable construction of multiple droplets of previously unattainable morphologies. Guided by the diagrams of the possible topologies of double droplets we investigate in detail the vistas to control the morphology of Janus droplets. We also explore and control new morphologies of multiple Janus droplets, i.e., arbitrarily long chains of alternating immiscible segments. Theoretical calculations together with the control offered by the use of automation allow the design of both the topology and the geometry (e.g. curvatures of the interfaces) of the multiple droplets. The ability to rationally design convex–convex, convex–concave and concave–convex segments may be useful in material science, while the ability to tune the distances between the interfaces in the chains of droplets may have applications in designing artificial biochemical signalling networks.

Keywords:

multiple droplets, microfluidics

Affiliations:
Guzowski J.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Korczyk P.M.-IPPT PAN
Jakieła S.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Garstecki P.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
5.Guzowski J., Korczyk P.M., Jakieła S., Garstecki P., Automated high-throughput generation of droplets, LAB ON A CHIP, ISSN: 1473-0197, DOI: 10.1039/c1lc20595a, Vol.11, No.21, pp.3593-3595, 2011
Abstract:

We report a microfluidic technique for high-throughput generation of droplets of nanolitre volume in parallel channels with online control of the volumes, volume fraction and distribution of droplet volumes with the use of two external valves.

Keywords:

microfluidics, droplet generation, droplets

Affiliations:
Guzowski J.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Korczyk P.M.-IPPT PAN
Jakieła S.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
Garstecki P.-Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (PL)
6.Guzowski J., Cichocki B., Wajnryb E., Abade G.C., The short-time self-diffusion coefficient of a sphere in a suspension of rigid rods, JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, ISSN: 0021-9606, DOI: 10.1063/1.2837296, Vol.128, pp.94502-1-11, 2008