Biomedical Polymer Scaffolds Formed by Electrospinning and STRAND Technique

Intrinsic biological conditions place specific requirements on the materials used in cell transplants, which vary with changing environments. A biodegradable polymer called poly glycerol-sebacate (PGS) fits many such requirements. PGS microfibers and nanofibers can be fabricated using two techniques, electrospinning and the ``STRAND'' technique (Substrate Translation and Rotation for Aligned Nanofiber Deposition)---each giving fibers with mutable properties. Whereas electrospinning allows for random or generally aligned fiber collection, STRAND allows for highly aligned fiber collection. STRAND also enables multi-directional cross-hatching of fibers and the ability to control fiber morphology, diameter, and spacing to high accuracy. Fibers formed by these techniques are being used for retinal cell implantation and drug-release experiments, to study the effect of different spinning techniques on results.