Graphene and graphene-related materials for tissue engineering

Graphene and graphene-related materials for tissue engineering

Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that strives to develop biological substitutes to restore, improve or enhance the function of damaged tissues or whole organs. Developing novel suitable scaffolds to fabricate functional tissue constructs is crucial in tissue engineering. Gelatine is a cheap biomolecule derived from collagen with excellent biocompatibility and thus often used in cell and tissue cultures to replace collage for biomaterial purposes.

However, the mechanical properties of gelatine is poor for tissue engineering applications. Graphene and graphene-related materials have attracted huge attention in recent years due to their outstanding properties and a wide range of potential applications. Graphene oxide (GO) and rGO are major chemical derivatives of graphene, has great potential in biomedical applications such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, bioimaging and biosensors.

The presence of various functional groups like carboxylic (COOH) and hydroxyl (OH) allows GO (and rGO) to be functionalised, conjugated or immobilised with other molecules or biomaterials. We have recently developed a new method to synthesise high quality monolayer GO at various controllable size. This PhD project will investigate how the addition of GO affects the biocompatibility and physicochemical properties of biomaterials to be used for tissue engineering.

During this project, the student will study how addition of different sized GO affects the mechanical and biological properties of biomaterials such as gelatine and gelatine derivatives. The key objectives including: (1) Cytotoxicity analyses of different sized GO by coupled use of cell culture and various biochemical assays. (2) Cytotoxicity analyses of various GO-biomaterials composites with different amount of GO. (3) Physicochemical and mechanical characterisations of selected GO-biomaterials composites. (4) Explore potential application of selected GO-biomaterials composites in tissue engineering.

This multidisciplinary project provides an excellent opportunity for the student to broaden knowledge and develop his/her research skills in material, engineering, and biological sciences.