Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Biomedical Engineering
Session: 4
Room: Exhibit Hall
Astrid Daugherty - FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Co-Author(s): Tyler Gregory, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, FL; Annie Scutte, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, FL; Jamel Ali, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Tallahassee, FL
Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on creating models for tissue regeneration, maintenance, and replacement of different tissues. Although this field has grown considerably over the last few decades, current models lack the incorporation of two other domains of life, archaea and bacteria, which are known to be part of the human microbiome. Archaea are groups of prokaryotic cells mainly found in the human oral and gut cavities. Little is known about the characteristics and behavior of archaea in a 3D culture environment, which is important to understand models that mimic accurate physiological conditions. Here, Halobacterium salinarum incorporated in alginate-based hydrogels supplemented with sodium chloride are fabricated using extrusion-based bioprinting to evaluate archaea behavior in a 3D structured environment. Using shear rheology to characterize the viscoelastic properties of the hydrogels, results show that the alginate hydrogel precursor exhibited shear-thinning behavior but had more liquid-like characteristics. Examination of printability of the cell-laden hydrogel showed that since the alginate hydrogels are more liquid-like, spreading was significant during printing; however, incorporating the H. salinarum decreased line spreading with higher extrusion rates. Cell viability in the hydrogels is determined through Live/Dead cytotoxicity assays, which show that cells maintained high viability in the hydrogel (>96%). Understanding the behavior of archaea in a 3D culture environment will promote the development of 3D tri-culture platforms incorporating the three domains of life for more clinically relevant tissue models for high-throughput drug screening applications.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (HDR-2000202, CMMI-2000330) and support from the NSF FAMU CREST Center award (HDR-1735968) J.A. acknowledges support from the Florida A&M University Office of Graduate Studies and Research, Florida A&M University Division of Research, and the Florida-California Cancer Research, Education & Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity program funded by the National Cancer Institute (5U54CA233396-02). All the work was performed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which is supported by National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1157490 and the State of Florida​.
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jamel Ali, jali@eng.famu.fsu.edu
Role: Through the guidance and help of the co-authors, I performed the fabrication of the alginate-based hydrogel, Live/Dead cytotoxicity assays, printing of the 3D environment, and the data collection for quantitative analysis.