Biomaterials 2021

Schematic: ChemoTopoChip surface structure

New publication reports on a novel screening platform able to identify new cell-instructive materials

The study, published in the April edition of Biomaterials, reports on a novel screening platform called a ChemoTopoChip used to identify new cell-instructive materials, exemplified in the publication for use in bone regeneration.

Using a large library of materials with different topography shapes, and with the help of machine learning, the study was able to reveal the relative roles of topography and material chemistry on the immunomodulatory and bond forming propensity of macrophage and stem cells respectively, both of which play key roles in the regeneration process. Ultimately this allows identification of biomaterials able to modulate cells towards pro-healing phenotypes and offering a materials-induced alternative in bone-regenerative applications.

The full article can be read in the journal Biomaterials.

Discovery of synergistic material-topography combinations to achieve immunomodulatory osteoinductive biomaterials using a novel in vitro screening method: The ChemoTopoChip.
Laurence Burroughs, Mahetab Amer, Matthew Vassey, Britta Koch, Grazziela Figueredo, Blessing Mukonoweshuro, Paulius Mikulskis, Aliaksei Vasilevich, Steven Vermeulen, Ian Dryden, David Winkler, Amir Ghaemmaghamia, Felicity Rose, Jan de Boer, Morgan Alexander.
Biomaterials 271, 2021, 120740.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2021.120740