Combination of touch spinning and bioprinting systems for skeletal muscle tissue fabrication

This project entitled “New tool for fabrication of microtissues with an anisotropic fibrous structure based on touch-spinning and 3D printing,” is funded (2019-2024) by DFG and is running in collaboration with Prof. Leonid Ionov from the University of Bayreuth.

In this project, we focused on various fiber production techniques to fabricate fibers with micron to submicron diameters for the regeneration of volume muscle loss and as nerve guidance conduits. In the published works out of this project, we showed the production of elastomers with tunable mechanical properties and compatibility with soft tissues. These elastomers were further processed using various fiber processing techniques such as electrospinning, melt electrowriting and touch spinning to produce self-rolling constructs and 4D biofabrication of tissue models.

In 2025, we recieved the funding from DFG to extend the focus of this project toward modeling the myopathy dieases. 

Related Papers:

  • I. Apsite#, S. Salehi#, L. Ionov, Smart materials for soft actuator. Chem. Rev. 2022, 122, 1349−1415 (#co-first author)
  • J. Uribe-Gomez, D. Schönfeld, A. Posada-Murcia, M. Roland, A. Caspari, A. Synytska, S. Salehi, T. Pretsch and L. Ionov, Fibrous scaffolds for Muscle Tissue Engineering Based on Touch-spun Poly(ester-urethane) Elastomer, Macromol. Biosci. 2022, 2100427. 
  • J. Uribe-Gomez, A. Posada-Murcia, A. Shukla, H. Alkhamis, S. Salehi and L. Ionov. Soft elastic fibrous scaffolds for muscle tissue engineering by touch spinning, ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2021, 4, 7, 5585–5597. 
  • J. Manuel Uribe, A. Fernando Posada, A. Shukla, M.Ergin, G. Constante, I. Apsite, M. Dulle, M. Schwarzer, A. Caspari, A. Synytska, S. Salehi, L. Ionov, Shape-morphing fibrous hydrogel/elastomer bilayers fabricated by a combination of 3D printing and melt electrowriting for muscle tissue regeneration, ACS Appl. Bio Mater. 2021, 4, 2, 1720–1730.
  • G. Constante, I. Apsite, H. Alkhamis, M. Dulle, M. Schwarzer, A. Caspari, A. Synytska, S. Salehi, L. Ionov; 4D biofabrication using a combination of 3D printing and melt-electrowriting of shape-morphing polymers, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces2021, 13, 11, 12767–12776.
  • I. Apsite, G. Constante, M. Dulle, L. Vogt, A. Caspari, A. R. Boccaccini, A. Synytska, S. Salehi, L. Ionov, 4D Biofabrication of fibrous artificial nerve graft for neuron regeneration, Biofabrication 2020, 12 035027.
  • I. Apsite, J. Manuel Uribe, A. Fernando Posada, S. Rosenfeldt, S. Salehi*, L. Ionov*, 4D biofabrication of skeletal muscle microtissues, Biofabrication 2020, 12, 015016.
  • M. A. Mohamed, A. Fallahi, A. M. A. El-sokkary, S. Salehi, M. A. Akl, A. Jafari, A. Tamayol, H. Fenniri, A. Khademhosseini, S. T. Andreadis, C. Cheng, Stimuli-Responsive Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications: From Chemistry to Biofabrication Technology, Progress in Polymer Science 2019, 98, 101147.