Nanomaterials and additive manufacturing towards the design of advanced scaffolds for hard tissue regeneration

Dear Colleagues,

In the field of tissue engineering, the synergistic combination of cells and 3D porous scaffolds is fundamental. It is frequently reported that a scaffold should possess an interconnected pore network to support cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. Over the past years, many efforts have been made to design advanced scaffolds with improved properties for tissue regeneration.

In this context, unlike conventional technologies, additive manufacturing allows the fabrication of scaffolds with complex shapes, reproducible architecture, tailored mechanical and mass transport properties.

On the other hand, benefiting from the nanotechnology approach, nanomaterials and nanostructures have been widely developed and analyzed. As an effect of novel physical properties related to the nanoscale features, nanomaterials generally have more interesting properties if compared to their microstructured counterparts.

Nanoscale features play a crucial role in scaffold function and nanocomposites consisting of a polymer matrix reinforced with inorganic nanoparticles should better mimic the structure of hard tissues (i.e., bone).

Accordingly, it is through the combination of nanomaterials and additive manufacturing that the present Special Issue of Nanomaterials is aimed at presenting the current advances in the design of scaffolds for hard tissue regeneration.

For this reason, in the present Special Issue we invite contributions from leading groups in the field with the aim of providing a complete view of the current progresses.

Prof. Dr. Antonio Gloria
Prof. Dr. Massimo Martorelli
Guest Editors

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