I am conducting my Master’s research project in the lab of Dr. David Rubenstein. In broad terms, Dr. Rubenstein’s lab focuses on tissue engineering methodologies for the enhancement of cell growth to accelerate wound healing. More specifically, a focus of this lab is the generation of scaffolds that serve to facilitate vascular tissue development. A major method that this lab uses to create these scaffolds is electrospinning, but in recent years another method that this lab has been researching is that of bioprinting. Even though bioprinting may not be able to mimic the micro-topography of the extracellular membrane as well as electrospinning can, it can still allow for the creation of controllable, replicable scaffolds that can harbor cells and facilitate their growth.

My research within Dr. Rubenstein’s lab focuses on scaffold creation through the utilization of the bioprinting method. I am studying the different mechanical properties and printing abilities of different bio-inks, and attempting to streamline methods for the creation of those bio-inks while establishing optimal parameters for printing. The bio-ink I am currently focusing on is sodium alginate.

Although sodium alginate is commonly used and there are many studies that utilize this material for scaffold creation, there seems to be a lacking of unifying resources that cover the optimal preparation and printing methods of different weight to volume ratios of low, medium and high viscosity alginate gels, how each type of alginate gel interacts with cells, and how the alginate viscosity affects the potential distortion of the scaffold when it is crosslinked post-print. The end goal of my master’s research would be to further the field of tissue engineering by creating such a resource.