Advanced Technologies for Processing Functional Biomaterials

A special issue of Journal of Functional Biomaterials (ISSN 2079-4983). This special issue belongs to the section "Synthesis of Biomaterials via Advanced Technologies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 5129

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
2. Aragonese Foundation for Research and Development (ARAID), 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Interests: laser-polymer interaction mechanisms; laser micro- and nano-structuring of polymers; direct laser interference patterning in polymers; laser-induced period surface structures in polymers; applications of modified polymers; functional polymers
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomaterials processing is a crucial stage that involves mechanical and chemical treatment of the source material to be developed into a biocompatible and bioactive product for a specific medical application. The processing of biomaterials involves changing the bulk or surface properties, obtaining a desired shape, or improving the biocompatibility of the material. Manufacturing and processing techniques for various biomaterials and structures are different. For example, for metal biomaterials, alloying, strain hardening, and annealing methods are common. Injection molding, melt extrusion, and electrospinning are suitable methods for processing polymeric biomaterials. Porous structures can be obtained using either the foaming process or the particle-leaching technique. The fabrication of 3D structures is important in tissue engineering; it is common to use freeze drying, gas foaming, electrospinning, laser-assisted techniques, and so on.

This Special Issue aims to provide readers recent advances in the processing techniques of all kinds of biomaterials. It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue.

Dr. Daniel Sola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • processing
  • biocompatibility
  • surface modification
  • functionalization
  • electrospinning
  • laser processing
  • 3D printing

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 11240 KiB  
Article
Study of the Interplay Among Melt Morphology, Rheology and 3D Printability of Poly(Lactic Acid)/Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate-Co-3-Hydroxyvalerate) Blends
by Marco Costantini, Flavio Cognini, Roberta Angelini, Sara Alfano, Marianna Villano, Andrea Martinelli, David Bolzonella, Marco Rossi and Andrea Barbetta
J. Funct. Biomater. 2025, 16(1), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/jfb16010009 - 1 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1274
Abstract
Polymeric materials made from renewable sources that can biodegrade in the environment are attracting considerable attention as substitutes for petroleum-based polymers in many fields, including additive manufacturing and, in particular, Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM). Among the others, poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) hold significant potential as [...] Read more.
Polymeric materials made from renewable sources that can biodegrade in the environment are attracting considerable attention as substitutes for petroleum-based polymers in many fields, including additive manufacturing and, in particular, Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM). Among the others, poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) hold significant potential as candidates for FDM since they meet the sustainability and biodegradability standards mentioned above. However, the most utilised PHA, consisting of the poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) homopolymer, has a high degree of crystallinity and low thermal stability near the melting point. As a result, its application in FDM has not yet attained mainstream adoption. Introducing a monomer with higher excluded volume, such as hydroxyvalerate, in the PHB primary structure, as in poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-valerate) (PHBV) copolymers, reduces the degree of crystallinity and the melting temperature, hence improving the PHA printability. Blending amorphous poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with PHBV enhances further PHA printability via FDM. In this work, we investigated the printability of two blends characterised by different PLA and PHBV weight ratios (25:75 and 50:50), revealing the close connection between blend microstructures, melt rheology and 3D printability. For instance, the relaxation time associated with die swelling upon extrusion determines the diameter of the extruded filament, while the viscoelastic properties the range of extrusion speed available. Through thoroughly screening printing parameters such as deposition speed, nozzle diameter, flow percentage and deposition platform temperature, we determined the optimal printing conditions for the two PLA/PHBV blends. It turned out that the blend with a 50:50 weight ratio could be printed faster and with higher accuracy. Such a conclusion was validated by replicating with remarkable fidelity high-complexity objects, such as a patient’s cancer-affected iliac crest model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies for Processing Functional Biomaterials)
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23 pages, 30182 KiB  
Article
Synthetic Extracellular Matrix of Polyvinyl Alcohol Nanofibers for Three-Dimensional Cell Culture
by Thi Xuan Thuy Tran, Gyu-Min Sun, Hue Vy An Tran, Young Hun Jeong, Petr Slama, Young-Chae Chang, In-Jeong Lee and Jong-Young Kwak
J. Funct. Biomater. 2024, 15(9), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/jfb15090262 - 10 Sep 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1680
Abstract
An ideal extracellular matrix (ECM) replacement scaffold in a three-dimensional cell (3D) culture should induce in vivo-like interactions between the ECM and cultured cells. Highly hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers disintegrate upon contact with water, resulting in the loss of their fibrous morphology [...] Read more.
An ideal extracellular matrix (ECM) replacement scaffold in a three-dimensional cell (3D) culture should induce in vivo-like interactions between the ECM and cultured cells. Highly hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanofibers disintegrate upon contact with water, resulting in the loss of their fibrous morphology in cell cultures. This can be resolved by using chemical crosslinkers and post-crosslinking. A crosslinked, water-stable, porous, and optically transparent PVA nanofibrous membrane (NM) supports the 3D growth of various cell types. The binding of cells attached to the porous PVA NM is low, resulting in the aggregation of cultured cells in prolonged cultures. PVA NMs containing integrin-binding peptides of fibronectin and laminin were produced to retain the blended peptides as cell-binding substrates. These peptide-blended PVA NMs promote peptide-specific cell adherence and growth. Various cells, including epithelial cells, cultured on these PVA NMs form layers instead of cell aggregates and spheroids, and their growth patterns are similar to those of the cells cultured on an ECM-coated PVA NM. The peptide-retained PVA NMs are non-stimulatory to dendritic cells cultured on the membranes. These peptide-retaining PVA NMs can be used as an ECM replacement matrix by providing in vivo-like interactions between the matrix and cultured cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies for Processing Functional Biomaterials)
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Review

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20 pages, 1556 KiB  
Review
Spheroid-Exosome-Based Bioprinting Technology in Regenerative Medicine
by Hwa-Yong Lee and Jin Woo Lee
J. Funct. Biomater. 2024, 15(11), 345; https://doi.org/10.3390/jfb15110345 - 14 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1483
Abstract
Since the discovery that exosomes can exchange genes, their potential use as tools for tissue regeneration, disease diagnosis, and therapeutic applications has drawn significant attention. Emerging three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies, such as bioprinting, which allows the printing of cells, proteins, DNA, and other [...] Read more.
Since the discovery that exosomes can exchange genes, their potential use as tools for tissue regeneration, disease diagnosis, and therapeutic applications has drawn significant attention. Emerging three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies, such as bioprinting, which allows the printing of cells, proteins, DNA, and other biological materials, have demonstrated the potential to create complex body tissues or personalized 3D models. The use of 3D spheroids in bioprinting facilitates volumetric tissue reconstruction and accelerates tissue regeneration via exosome secretion. In this review, we discussed a convergence approach between two promising technologies for bioprinting and exosomes in regenerative medicine. Among the various 3D cell culture methods used for exosome production, we focused on spheroids, which are suitable for mass production by bioprinting. We then summarized the research results on cases of bioprinting applications using the spheroids and exosomes produced. If a large number of spheroids can be supplied through bioprinting, the spheroid-exosome-based bioprinting technology will provide new possibilities for application in tissue regeneration, disease diagnosis, and treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies for Processing Functional Biomaterials)
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