Cell-Friendly Inverse Opal Hydrogels for Cell Encapsulation, Drug and Protein Delivery, and Functional Nanoparticle Encapsulation
AssigneePresident and Fellows of Harvard College
InventorsDavid J. Mooney, Jaeyun Kim, Sidi A. Bencherif, Weiwei A. Li
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Abstract
The invention provides polymer scaffolds for cell-based tissue engineering.
Claims33
An inverse opal hydrogel scaffold device comprising a polymer matrix and a sacrificial porogen, wherein said porogen comprises an ionically-crosslinked polymer, a thermosensitive polymer, a thermoresponsive polymer, a pH-sensitive polymer, or a photocleavable polymer.
A method of producing an inverse opal hydrogel with open, interconnected pores comprising:
- compressing a plurality of template porogen particles into a mold;
- adding a composition comprising a polymer solution and a first plurality of cells to the interstitial space between template porogen particles in said mold to polymerize said template porogen particles;
- removing said template porogen particles;
- thereby producing an inverse opal hydrogel with open, interconnected pores.
A method of producing an inverse opal hydrogel with open, interconnected pores comprising:
- compressing a plurality of template porogen particles into a mold;
- adding a composition comprising a polymer solution and an agent to the interstitial space between template porogen particles in said mold to polymerize said template porogen particles;
- removing said template porogen particles;
- thereby producing an inverse opal hydrogel with open, interconnected pores.
A composition comprising an inverse opal hydrogel with open, interconnected pores comprising a first plurality of cells encapsulated in a hydrogel matrix and a second plurality of cells in said open, interconnected pores, wherein said first plurality of cells encapsulated in said hydrogel matrix occupy an interstitial space between said open, interconnected pores.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.