The invention relates to an electrospinning apparatus and method of use thereof.

A biocompatible textile and methods for its use and fabrication are disclosed. The textile may be fabricated from electrospun fibers forming windings on a mandrel, in which the windings form openings having a mesh size between adjacent windings. The textile may also be fabricated by the addition of solvent-soluble particles incorporated into the textile while the windings are formed. Such particles may be removed by exposing the textile to a solvent, thereby dissolving them. Disclosed are also replacements for animal organs composed of material including at least one layer of an electrospun fiber textile having a mesh size. Such replacements for animal organs may include biocompatible textiles treated with a surface treatment process.

A structure of aligned (e.g., radially and/or polygonally aligned) fibers, and systems and methods for producing and using the same. One or more structures provided may be created using an apparatus that includes one or more first electrodes that define an area and/or partially circumscribe an area. For example, a single first electrode may enclose the area, or a plurality of first electrode(s) may be positioned on at least a portion of the perimeter of the area. A second electrode is positioned within the area. Electrodes with rounded (e.g., convex) surfaces may be arranged in an array, and a fibrous structure created using such electrodes may include an array of wells at positions corresponding to the positions of the electrodes.

An ultrafine fiber printing system contains a moving deck having a nozzle seat that disposed on the moving deck. A pipe is installed in the nozzle seat and a nozzle is disposed at the bottom end of the pipe. The upper portion and the lower portion of the pipe are combined with a heat dissipating unit and heater respectively. The top end of the pipe is connected to a feed tube having an outer end being connected with a thread squeezer. A printing platform is disposed around the moving deck. The nozzle is connected to a static electricity supply and the fiber carrier is grounded. An electric field is formed between the nozzle and the fiber carrier. The droplets exported from the nozzle are stretched into ultrafine fibers to form a patterned fabric or product.

Bone tissue biomimetic materials, biomimetic constructs that can be formed with the materials, and methods for forming the materials and constructs are described. The bone tissue biomimetic materials include electrospun nanofibers formed of polymers that are conjugated with peptides that include acidic amino acid residues. The materials can incorporate high levels of mineralization so as to provide mechanical strength and promote osteogenesis and/or osteoconductivity on/in the bone tissue biomimetic materials. The materials and constructs can be utilized in forming tissue engineered structures for in vitro and in vivo use. Macroscopic bone tissue biomimetic scaffolds formed from the materials can be seeded with osteogenic cells and utilized to develop bone graft materials that can exhibit strength and osteoconductivity similar to the native bone and that exhibit uniform distribution of nutrients in the scaffolds.

A method of making a valve structure includes a step of rotating a mandrel and an electrodeposition target attached to the mandrel about a rotational axis of the mandrel. The target includes an exterior surface having at least one conductive surface portion and at least one non-conductive surface portion. The method also includes a step of electrodepositing a polymer matrix of a biodegradable, biocompatible polymer composition onto the at least one conductive surface portion and the at least one non-conductive surface portion of the exterior surface of the rotating electrodeposition target to form the valve structure.

A method for controlling fiber cross-alignment in a nanofiber membrane, comprising: providing a multiple segment collector in an electrospinning device including a first and second segment electrically isolated from an intermediate segment positioned between the first and second segment, collectively presenting a cylindrical structure, rotating the cylindrical structure around a longitudinal axis proximate to an electrically charged fiber emitter; electrically grounding or charging edge conductors circumferentially resident on the first and second segment, maintaining intermediate collector electrically neutral; dispensing electrospun fiber toward the collector, the fiber attaching to edge conductors and spanning the separation space between edge conductors; attracting electrospun fiber attached to the edge conductors to the surface of the cylindrical structure, forming a first fiber layer; increasing or decreasing rotation speed of the cylindrical structure to alter the angular cross-alignment relationship between aligned nanofibers in adjacent layers, the rotation speed being altered to achieve a target relational angle.

Method and device for depositing a fiber material layer on a carrier, such as using an electrospinning process. The device includes a deposition unit positioned remote from the carrier during operation, and the deposition unit is arranged for forming the fiber material layer on the carrier in a continuous manner A carrier feed unit is provided for feeding the carrier in a transport direction with a predetermined speed, and the carrier includes a plurality of carrier plates. A cutting unit is present and arranged downstream from the deposition unit, the cutting unit being arranged to cut the deposited fiber material layer in between two adjacent ones of the plurality of carrier plates.

The present disclosure relates to compositions, apparatus and methods for generating one or more scaffolds, including: mixing a hydrogel material and/or an extracellular matrix (ECM) protein in an aqueous solvent to generate an aqueous process solution; and cryoelectrospinning the aqueous process solution onto a plurality of conductive probes extending from a conductive surface of a collector plate disposed within a process chamber under conditions sufficient to generate one or more scaffolds configured to mimic a preselected soft tissue decellularized extracellular matrix. Scaffold compositions are also provided having preselected or tuned characteristics.

Compositions and blends of biopolymers and bio-acceptable polymers are described, along with the use of benign solvent systems to prepare biocompatible scaffolds and surgically implantable devices for use in supporting and facilitating the repair of soft tissue injuries.