MULTI-SCALE COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF BIOPRINTED TISSUE CONSTRUCTS

Tissue engineering has been redefined as "the use of physical, chemical, biological and engineering processes to control and direct the aggregate behaviors of cells". This offers tremendous opportunities for designing in vitro physiological models to study disease pathogenesis, inventing cell-based therapeutics in clinical applications and developing novel pharmaceutical methods for reducing the use of animals in drug testing. However, while using biomanufacturing processes, cells are subjected to an array of mechanical forces which may injure it. While experimental studies have been conducted for specific bio-fabrication systems to understand cell responses, an engineering model is also needed that can be used to predict the effect of mechanical forces on cells. A multi scale modeling approach for the analysis of cell damage in bioprinted tissue constructs is presented here. The approach includes analysis of the tissue constructs at a macro scale model, developing a multi-cellular scale model and a single cell model wherein the microstructures of the cell like the nucleus and the cytoplasm have been incorporated.