Congenital skull defects in infants are difficult to correct using metal plates due to the growth of
the skull. Tissue engineering of bone patches could be the answer to help such patients. Custom
scaffolds have been designed based on Computed Tomography (CT) images of the patient’s
skull. An in-house developed single screw extruder, casting and a commercial laser cutter has
been evaluated in the fabrication of pure polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds as well as PCL mixed
with hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffolds. Evaluation criteria for each process included the ability to
maintain an optimal pore size for cells to proliferate, inclusion of micro surface properties for
cell adhesion, incorporation of hydroxyapatite, and ability to maintain desired shape. The
mechanical properties of the fabricated scaffolds will be presented in this paper as well as initial
cell seeding results with human adipose-derived adult stem (hADAS) cells.Mechanical Engineerin
