Hybrid bioinstructive / delivery particles fabricated through microfluidics and two photon polymerisation for immune modulation

3 year PhD Studentship in Enabling Next Generation Additive Manufacturing

In collaboration with Warwick and Birmingham Universities, as well as with the School of Pharmacy and Physics at Nottingham, the Centre for Additive Manufacturing (CfAM) http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cfam/index.aspx will continue a deeper exploration the area of multifunctional AM through the recently awarded Programme Grant, Enabling Next Generation Additive Manufacturing.

The programme vision is to establish controlled next generation multifunctional AM and translate this to industry and researchers. Initially focussing on novel electronic and pharmaceutical/healthcare applications, the aim is to move beyond single material AM by exploiting the potential to deposit multiple materials contemporaneously for the delivery of spatially resolved function and structure in three dimensions.

Project description:
This project is predicated on the principle that cells, such as macrophages, interact with foreign bodies in a three-dimensional way. In addition, it is well known that the condition and morphology of surfaces that the cells come into contact with have a strong influence on the phenotypical/functional direction that the cells embark upon. Therefore, whilst much insight has been obtained from cells on planar surfaces, a true understanding can only be obtained by challenging cells with features of the appropriate length scale, and then tailoring the surface condition to induce specific pathways. We will address this through the combination and advancement of two recent developments – microfluidics for production of particles with highly tuned interfacial properties and two photon polymerisation for topological manufacture and freedom. This will be a significant step forward as this will allow the production of objects that work on two length scales – 1. Production of ‘macroscale’ objects that are particularly relevant to the mechanisms of macrophage behaviour and 2. On nanoscale length scales much smaller than the cell size, on which it has been shown that cells are influenced.