Hybrid fabrication of a 3D printed geometry embedded with PCL nanofibers for tissue engineering applications

A machine tool for the automatic fabrication of biocompatible scaffolds with embedded nanofibers mats was built. In this novel process, the scaffolds produced by Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) were embedded with polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers in between the object layers. The nanofibers mat was obtained by far field electrospinning and its pore size was controlled by the fabrication process. An additional micromachining tool was used to drill and create microchannels in the hybrid geometry as required. This geometry will further be used in combination with cell cultures to study stem cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.