THE SCHOOL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Under the provisions of the regulations for the degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

on Tuesday, April 13, 2021
1:00 PM 

via 

BlueJeans Video Conferencing 

https://gatech.bluejeans.com/447437285
will be held the

DISSERTATION DEFENSE

for

Chen Jiang

"Design, Fabrication and Characterization of Electrospun Fibers, Yarns, and Scaffolds for Textile-inspired Tissue Engineering"

Committee Members:

Prof. Ben Wang, Advisor, ISYE/MSE

Prof. Preet Singh, MSE

Prof. Naresh Thadhani, MSE

Kevin Wang, Ph.D., GTMI

Prof. Youjiang Wang, MSE

Abstract: 

This dissertation focuses on the design, fabrication, and characterization of electrospun fibers, yarns, and scaffolds, which are building blocks of textile-based tissue engineering, an important field in regenerative medicine. This study proved the hypothesis that textile-based tissue engineering would yield artificial tissues with similar physical, biological, and mechanical properties as their natural counterparts. For fibers, I investigated cell adhesion, proliferation, and morphology on electrohydrodynamic (EHD) direct-written fibers with controllable surface roughness. The results provided guidelines about controlling the surface roughness of single fibers to achieve desirable cell responses. For yarns, I investigated the mechanism of wet electrospinning and fabricated yarns with controllable mechanical properties. For scaffolds, I assembled wet electrospun yarns into scaffolds via textile technology for two case studies. The results indicated that the textile-based scaffolds could satisfy the physical, biological, and mechanical requirements for skin and vascular tissue engineering. This study will enhance the robustness of textile technology in tissue engineering and provide new perspectives for the design and fabrication of scaffolds. The modified electrospinning technology will greatly extend the usefulness of electrospinning in tissue engineering and related fields.