Engineering protein-based scaffolds for in vitro vascularisation

Abstract

Despite the rapid development of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine over the past few decades, challenges persist in the vascularisation of engineered tissues in vitro. Inspired by top-down and bottom-up engineering approaches to construct vessel-like networks, this project developed three-dimensional (3D) soft tissue analogues using protein materials including recombinant human tropoelastin (rhTE), silk fibroin (SF) and tyramine-modified gelatin (GT) and explored their vascularisation potential both in vitro and in vivo.