Fabrication of cell membrane coated cartilage grafts

One of the challenges faced when attempting to treat knee injuries, particularly those involving the articular cartilage, is the shortage of grafts to be used for implanting. To address this issue, our lab has developed a cell-based, programmable and controllable construct, the living hyaline cartilage graft (LhCG). To fully realize this as a solution, one of the problems that need to be addressed is the risk of unintended host response deteriorating the graft upon implantation. In this project, membrane particles were extracted from porcine chondrocytes and coated onto the graft using ultrasound after performing decellularization on the LhCG. Observations made with a microscope were used to assess the success of the fabrication of the LhCG, while H & E staining was used to determine if the decellularization process was done effectively. DiO' (DiOC18(3) or 3,3'-Dioctadecyloxacarbocyanine Perchlorate) was subsequently used to gauge the efficiency of the coating procedure. Overall, we concluded that the results demonstrate a preliminary proof of concept that can serve as justification to move on to animal testing in order to investigate the effectiveness of the coating in combating unwanted host response.Bachelor of Engineering (Bioengineering