Publication Date
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
David Reynolds (Advisor)
Degree Name
Master of Science in Engineering (MSEgr)
Abstract
The advent of tissue engineering has spurred research into developing materials to act as scaffolds for tissue growth. These scaffolds require materials capable of mimicking the in vivo conditions so that tissues can be grown effectively in vitro. Silk is an attractive biomaterial for use in tissue engineering applications because of its slow degradation, excellent mechanical properties, and biocompatibility. The major objective of the research in this thesis is to demonstrate a simple method to cast films directly from silk fibroin dissolved in an ionic liquid. The films cast from the silk ionic liquid solution were found to support normal keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation. The versatility of the silk ionic liquid solutions and the ability to process large amounts of silk into materials with controlled surface topography directly from the dissolved silk ionic liquid solution make it an interesting material for a wide variety of tissue engineering applications.
Page Count
64
Department or Program
Department of Biomedical, Industrial & Human Factors Engineering
Year Degree Awarded
2007
Copyright
Copyright 2007, all rights reserved. This open access ETD is published by Wright State University and OhioLINK.
