Because synthetic vascular prostheses perform poorly in small-diameter revascularization, biological vascular substitutes are being developed as an alternative. Although their in vivo results are promising, their production involves long, complex, and expensive tissue engineering methods. To overcome these limitations, we propose an innovative approach that combines the human amniotic membrane (HAM), which is a widely available and cost-effective biological raw material, with a rapid and robust textile-inspired assembly strategy. Fetal membranes were collected after cesarean deliveries at term. Once isolated by dissection, HAM sheets were cut into ribbons that could be further processed by twisting into threads. Characterization of the HAM yarns (both ribbons and threads) showed that their physical and mechanical properties could be easily tuned. Since our clinical strategy will be to provide an off-the-shelf allogeneic implant, we studied the effects of decellularization and/or gamma sterilization on the histological, mechanical, and biological properties of HAM ribbons. Gamma irradiation of hydrated HAMs, with or without decellularization, did not interfere with the ability of the matrix to support endothelium formation in vitro. Finally, our HAM-based, woven tissue-engineered vascular grafts (TEVGs) exhibited clinically relevant mechanical properties. Thus, this study demonstrates that human, completely biological, allogeneic, small-diameter TEVGs can be produced from HAM, thereby avoiding costly cell culture and bioreactors.
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering
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A systematic review of deep learning methods for modeling electrocardiograms during sleep
Detecting beats in the photoplethysmogram: benchmarking open-source algorithms
3D bioprinted glioma models
Engineered colorectal cancer tissue recapitulates key attributes of a patient-derived xenograft tumor line
Sideways crab-walking is faster and more efficient than forward walking for a hexapod robot
Towards a transformational eco-metabolistic bio-based design framework in architecture
Establishing best practices in photoplethysmography signal acquisition and processing
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Biofabrication makes an impact
Our dedicated journal focusing on cutting-edge research in the field has been awarded a 2021 Journal Impact of 11.061, alongside a Citescore of 14.8. Last year the journal received over 445,000 article downloads, creating an exciting support in the research advances in this discipline. Learn more about the journal, and submitting your research to Biofabrication.
Martin Black Award 2022
Physiological Measurement (PMEA), in association with the journal owners, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), jointly award this prize in honour of Martin Black, the first editor of the journal. The 2022 best paper is presented to authors, Martin Hultman, Ida Johansson, Frida Lindqvist and Christer Ahlström, for their paper Driver sleepiness detection with deep neural networks using electrophysiological data.
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Special Issue on Bioinspiration for Healthcare Challenges welcomes original research, review and perspective articles that focus on biologically inspired materials, sensors, actuators, devices, and robots for medical applications and healthcare challenges. Find out more about submitting here.
Special Issue on 'Advances in in silico trials of medical products: evidence, methods and tools' welcomes Reviews and Perspectives that provide further evidence and exemplars demonstrating the relevance of in silico methodologies as adjuncts and accelerants to more traditional sources of scientific evidence. Find out more about submitting here.
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Special Issue on Biological Machines, Robot Assemblies and Their Potential Applications welcomes contributions that overview studies that design, assemble, and analyze such microscale soft robots that combine artificial and biological muscles, neurons, and sensors. In addition, this issue will include a study that interrogates undefined emergence resulting from cross-talks between neuron and muscle cells as well as those between the same cell types. Find out more about submitting here.