The present invention provides piezoelectric bio-organic films resembling ceramic-based piezoelectric films, and also a fabrication method thereof. In particular, the bio-organic piezoelectric films are formed by compact nanocrystals resembling the inorganic ceramic structure, where nanocrystallization on biomaterials and in-situ electric field are applied to facilitate domain orientation alignment across the entire films. The present fabrication method provides flexibility to tune various parameters of the resulting bio-organic films according to the needs, and therefore is substantially applicable to a wide range of biomaterials to form piezoelectric bio-organic films comparable to those formed by conventional piezoceramics in terms of piezoelectricity, thermostability and durability.

A first aspect of the invention provides an infusion product for making a beverage by soaking the infusion product in a liquid, the infusion product comprising: a pouch formed from one or more permeable sheets of a first plant material, at least two portions of the pouch being joined together at a seam portion by an adhesive; a second plant material within the pouch, the second plant material being configured such that an extract from the second plant material infuses into the first liquid when the infusion product is soaked in the liquid to make the beverage; wherein the adhesive comprises corn zein.

Described herein are apparatuses, systems, and methods for fabricating tissue constructs, such as by fabricating perfusable tissue constructs by embedding a sacrificial material into a composite matrix yield stress support bath. A composite matrix bath can include a microgel filler and a hydrogel precursor. An extrusion tip can be used for embedded printing of perfusable tissue constructs by disposing sacrificial material into the composite matrix bath while the extrusion tip travels along a predefined course through the composite matrix bath. This sacrificial material can be the printed tissue construct or can be removed to render the matrix bath a perfusable tissue construct. The composite matrix bath can include acellular or cell-laden hydrogels. The sacrificial material can include a salt and a physiological buffer or a non-cytotoxic porogen material. The hydrogel precursor can include at least one of gellan and gelatin. Cross-linking can be carried out chemically, thermally, enzymatically, or physically.

The present invention is directed to a fully biodegradable material based on a plant protein. The present invention is also directed to a process method of making a gluten-based biodegradable material by a water induced flocculation step. A fully hydrated gluten dough with or without an additive or/and a filler formed from the flocculation step, which has low viscoelasticity, is further molded into an article with desired shapes under a low shear stress in a relatively low temperature range. A rigid or flexible biodegradable plastic article is obtained by removing extra water at a temperature lower than decomposition temperature of the gluten.

The present invention relates to a method for molding a self-supporting silk fibroin catheter stent, which comprises preparing an excellent catheter stent by a mold casting and freeze-drying molding process using silk fibroin as a raw material. The raw material is silk fibroin extracted from natural mulberry silk; and the mold is a hollow tubular mold, having an outer shell that is a transparent polyethylene straw with a diameter of 6 mm and an inner core that is a fiber rod FRP with a diameter of 3 mm, with the two ends being closed. The mold casting and freeze-drying molding process comprises the steps of casting; pre-freezing; removing the mold and placing the mold onto a pre-frozen freeze-drying plate; and freeze-drying. The freeze-drying procedure comprises: (1) a pre-freezing stage; (2) a freezing—vacuum transition stage; (3) a gradient temperature-rising and freeze-drying stage; and (4) a secondary freeze-drying stage. The freeze-drying procedure is strictly regulated in accordance with the specifications of freeze-dried stents. The prepared stent has a good shape, and good tolerance without adding any additional components. The stent presents a three-dimensional porous space structure, the process is simple, and the stent meets the requirements for tissue-engineered vascular stent in clinic.

The disclosure relates to a cell electrochemical sensor based on a 3D printing technology and application thereof and belongs to the technical field of electrochemical sensors and toxin detection. The cell electrochemical sensor of the disclosure is constructed based on a 3D printing technology, and the construction method comprises the following steps: precisely depositing a cell/carbon nanofiber/GelMA composite hydrogel on a working electrode of a screen-printed carbon electrode through 3D printing, and carrying out curing to obtain the cell electrochemical sensor. The disclosure constructs a cell electrochemical sensor with a three-dimensional cell growth environment and rapid and sensitive response. The cell electrochemical sensor constructed by the disclosure can be used for quickly and effectively determining the combined effect type and effect degree of deoxynivalenol family toxins by combining an electrochemical impedance method and a combination index method.

A method for preparing keratin-based composites includes mixing polysaccharide nanoparticles and a keratin solution to form a nanoparticle-keratin solution; and solvent casting the nanoparticle-keratin solution to form the keratin-based composites.

A composite nerve conduit comprising an elongated body comprising one or more hollow elongated internal channels for guiding and promoting nerve regeneration. The conduit is a three-dimensional scaffold comprising a crosslinked hybrid/composite matrix of collagen and soy protein isolate having improved mechanical and biocompatibility properties. Methods of using the conduit for promoting nerve regeneration at a site of neural tissue damage by bridging wounded, severed, or damaged nerve sections in a peripheral and/or central nervous system. Methods of fabricating composite neural conduits are also disclosed.

The present invention discloses compositions and methods for repair and reconstruction of defects and injuries to soft tissues. Some aspects of the disclosure provide methods for corneal reconstruction by applying an engineered bioadhesive, glycidyl methacrylate-substituted gelatin and a visible light activated photoinitiator in presence of visible light to the corneal defect.

Three-dimensional printing methods and systems for forming a three-dimensional protein article are disclosed. The methods and systems involve selecting article formation parameters, such as protein ink parameters, solvent bath parameters, shear force parameters, and mapping parameters. After these parameters are selected, the methods and systems iteratively introduce protein ink into a solvent bath via a three-dimensional printing outlet. The result is a three-dimensional protein article. One exemplary protein is silk fibroin. Further processing can be done, such as drying the article.