Poster #093
Bicontinuous Interconnected Porous Scaffolds for hiPSC Tissue Engineering
Mentor: Kevin Dalsania, Grad Student & Prince Okoro, Grad Student PI: Dr. Iman Noshadi
Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are foundational to regenerative medicine due to their ability to differentiate into any cell type. However, their inherent sensitivity renders many scaffolds incompatible, and traditional systems lack the interconnected micro- and macro-porosity essential for nutrient diffusion, cell infiltration, and proliferation in large tissue constructs. This study addresses these limitations by exploring a new class of biomaterials based on bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels). Using our lab’s fabrication technique, we created bijel-integrated scaffolds whose biomimetic, multi-scale architecture has been validated for supporting various sensitive cells. We confirmed their suitability by seeding and culturing hiPSCs on the scaffolds for two weeks and assessing viability with brightfield microscopy. These preliminary findings will inform the development of advanced bijel scaffolds for hiPSC-based tissue engineering.