Repurposing agricultural waste as low-cost cultured meat scaffolds

Growing meat in vitro using tissue engineering and bioproduction techniques (cellular agriculture) has become an increasingly promising solution to the global food security challenge. Our lab has established methods to cultivate bovine muscle tissue on decellularized plants, representing a viable low-cost, sustainable method to grow meat on edible scaffolds. Most work in this area has focused on the use of edible plant materials (i.e., spinach leaves, apple, broccoli) with inherent economic value. Harvest waste such as corn husk or jackfruit represent abundant sources of cellulose for scaffold production and may be a viable alternative. The present study aims to investigate production of cultured meat through tissue engineering and bioproduction on decellularized, edible samples of corn husk and jackfruit rind. Corn husks and jackfruit rinds were exposed to immersion decellularization. DNA quantification and histological analysis demonstrated sufficient decellularization (0.17 ± 0.06 and 0.07 ± 0.00 ug DNA/g tissue for corn husk and jackfruit rinds, respectively). Following decellularization, corn husk scaffold stiffnesses decreased from 56.67±16.71 MPa to 12.95±2.43 MPa in fiber-aligned direction, while jackfruit decreased from 7.54 ±2.42 MPa to 2.47±1.47 MPa. Seeded scaffolds with bovine satellite cells (BSCs) (11.45±2.24 ug/ul lysate/Gram) and avian (QM7s) (12.90±1.99 ug/ul lysate/Gram) demonstrated increased protein yields on jackfruit scaffolds. QM7 cultured on corn husk scaffolds yielded increased protein but PBSCs seeded on corn husks did not yield protein content higher than controls (QM7 on corn husk: 16.28±3.55, PBSCs on corn husks: 9.57±1.56 ug/ul lysate/Gram, control: 6.35±1.43 ug/ul lysate/Gram). Additionally, cell transfer from scaffold to scaffold (bead-to-bead transfer) was observed on corn husk scaffolds in a dynamic environment. These results suggest that decellularized harvest waste scaffolds may aid in realization of cultured meat products that will contribute to a more robust and environmentally sustainable food supply

Effects of Porosity on Piezoelectric Characteristics of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Films for Biomedical Applications

Objective: The objective of this work is to study the effects of porosity on mechanical and piezoelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films for biomedical applications. Impact Statement: By investigating the piezoelectric properties of PVDF and the porosity effect on its electromechanical performance, there is potential for further development of PVDF as a hemodynamic sensor that can lead to further technological advancements in the biomedical field, benefiting patients and physicians alike. Introduction: PVDF thin films have shown potential in the application of hemodynamic flow sensing and monitoring the effects on blood flow caused by prosthetic valve implantation via the transcatheter aortic valve replacement operation. The piezoelectric performance of PVDF films can be influenced by the porosity of the material. Methods: In this study, strain tracking was performed on thin film PVDF specimens with various levels of porosity and pore sizes to determine the mechanical properties of the specimens. The mechanical properties were used to model the PVDF material in COMSOL multiphysics software, in which compression test simulations were performed to determine the piezoelectric coefficient d33 of the PVDF. Results: A decline in the elastic modulus was found to be highly inversely correlated with porosity of the specimens and the simulation results show that elastic modulus had a much greater effect on the piezoelectric properties than Poisson’s ratio. Conclusion: A combination of experimental and computational techniques was able to characterize and correlate the mechanical properties of PVDF films of varying porosities to their piezoelectric properties

Understanding the diffusion of dextrans in 'Click' PNIPAAm hydrogels

Arguably the most important property of a hydrogel is the ability to allow the diffusion of solutes through the crosslinked network. Studies of the diffusion in hydrogels are important for providing information on the rate and extent of the passage of the solute and on the details of the microstructure of the hydrogel. Such knowledge is directly relevant for applications such as controlled drug delivery systems. The structure of novel poly(N- isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels can be revealed by the restricted diffusion of appropriate probe molecules. Dextran molecules, labelled with fluorescent moieties, were incorporated into well-defined PNIPAAm hydrogels to investigate the effects of hydrogel mesh size and dextran molecular size on the diffusivities of solute molecules