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Rewiring the Spinal Cord with Microrobots
Spinal cord injuries are devastating to a persons life and often disable them for the rest of their life. Regeneration of neuronal tissue is especially limited for adults. However by providing a favorable growth environment with stimuli, a regeneration of neuronal tissue can occur. Here, the field of tissue engineering aims to create biomaterials, that provide such a favorable environment with cues that trigger differentiation of neuronal cells to rewire the neuronal network.
Spinal cord injuries are devastating to a persons life and often disable them for the rest of their life. Regeneration of neuronal tissue is especially limited for adults. However by providing a favorable growth environment with stimuli, a regeneration of neuronal tissue can occur. Here, the field of tissue engineering aims to create biomaterials, that provide such a favorable environment with cues that trigger differentiation of neuronal cells to rewire the neuronal network.
In this project, we aim to fabricate microrobots from such biomaterials to remotely guide them in the body and rewire the neuronal network at the sight of the injury. Fabrication of these scaffolds will be followed by material characterization and experiments in vitro to study the effect of the microrobot on neuronal model cells.
Spinal cord injuries are devastating to a persons life and often disable them for the rest of their life. Regeneration of neuronal tissue is especially limited for adults. However by providing a favorable growth environment with stimuli, a regeneration of neuronal tissue can occur. Here, the field of tissue engineering aims to create biomaterials, that provide such a favorable environment with cues that trigger differentiation of neuronal cells to rewire the neuronal network.
In this project, we aim to fabricate microrobots from such biomaterials to remotely guide them in the body and rewire the neuronal network at the sight of the injury. Fabrication of these scaffolds will be followed by material characterization and experiments in vitro to study the effect of the microrobot on neuronal model cells.
_**Type of work:**_
Fabrication (50%), Characterization (20%), Application (30%)
_**Requisites:**_
The student should be highly motivated, independent and work in an organized manner in the lab. Some knowledge in micro- and nanofabrication or in vitro cell culture methods is advantageous but not necessary.
_**Type of work:**_ Fabrication (50%), Characterization (20%), Application (30%)
_**Requisites:**_ The student should be highly motivated, independent and work in an organized manner in the lab. Some knowledge in micro- and nanofabrication or in vitro cell culture methods is advantageous but not necessary.