Dottorato in MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The versatility of multiscale biomaterials can be exploited to improve outcomes across the field of tissue engineering. Inorganic, mesoporous nanoparticles, including porous silicon and mesoporous silica nanoparticles, offer several advantageous properties, including high surface area and pore volume for drug loading, ease of surface chemistry modifications, tunable nanoparticle size and pore diameters, and are biodegradable/biocompatible, making them attractive nanocarriers for drug deliver applications. These properties also make them especially useful in the incorporation of nanoparticles into biomaterial scaffolds to alter material properties, protect sensitive therapeutics during fabrication, and tailor drug release properties. Microgels, hydrogels composed of microparticles ranging in size from 1-1000 μm, have begun to emerge as one of the most promising building blocks of three dimensional structures. This is due to their unique properties, including porosity between particles allowing for cellular infiltration and nutrient/waste exchange, large surface area to volume ratios increasing cellular adhesion points, and shear-thinning enabled injectability. Using these nano- and micro-scale materials as building blocks, we are creating digital light projection, 3D-printed macrostrucutres composed of these materials to interface and improve outcomes in the nervous system. Integrating nanoparticle and microgel design concepts into multiscale biomaterials engineering holds great promise across bioengineering.

22/04/2026