Templated assembly of collagen fibers and uses thereof

A biomaterial fabrication process for the manufacture of a collagen based fabric for an aligned collagen fiber network, the process comprising:

• a. providing a collagen-polymer composition comprising collagen and a polymer;
• b. applying the collagen-polymer composition to a first surface of a first substrate;
• c. contacting the collagen-polymer composition with a first surface of a second substrate, thereby interposing the collagen-polymer composition between the first substrate and the second substrate;
• d. forming a plurality of elongated collagen-polymer fibers by pressing and separating the first and second substrates along an axis thereby elongating the collagen-polymer composition and forming the plurality of elongated collagen-polymer fibers;
• and,
• e. placing the elongated collagen-polymer fibers onto a stage thereby forming a collagen-polymer fiber layer or collagen-polymer fabric of collected collagen-polymer fibers.