Biodegradable tunable nanofibrous matrix for regenerative medicine

Electrospinning is a novel method of producing and assembling nano-scale fibers into three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds that mimic the structure and biochemical environment of human body's tissues. Scaffolds can be fabricated from both natural and synthetic polymers and can even be manufactured into different sizes and shapes, including tubes, matrices, and coatings, among others. Fibers comprising scaffolds can be tuned or customengineered to a specific orientation (parallel/perpendicular) or thickness, including on the nanometer scale (a thousand times thinner than a human hair). What results from these capabilities is an implantable scaffold with the correct fiber diameter, orientation, and architecture, rendered virtually indistinguishable from native tissue and recognized as "self" by the body. However, electrospinning is not limited to polymers. Other elements of regenerative medicine, including cells, drugs, and bioactive factors, can be combined into a scaffold. Recently, many researchers have used electrospinning techniques to produce a variety of materials, including vascular grafts, nerve guides, tendon, and skin. In fact, electrospinning is an area of intense focus for academic biomaterials research, validating the importance of this technology platform. Moreover, electrospinning is a tunable manufacturing technique for the design of biomaterials with potentially reorganizable architecture for various cell and tissue growth.