Effect of 3D Scaffold Dimensions on Chondrocyte Glucose and Oxygen Diffusion
ABOUT
In my fluid dynamics course, my team and I focused on modeling nutrient diffusion through chondrocytes and the dependency on initial 3D seeding scaffolds.
Chondrocytes (cells that produce the ECM that makes up cartilage) can be grown in a scaffold immersed in a bioreactor to provide nutrients for growth. Because cartilage does not vascularize, diffusion of nutrients is essential for the cells’ survival and proliferation. We examined the effects that pore size would have on diusion rates of glucose and oxygen through a scaffold, with the target of producing a scaffold that would be appropriate for the needs of a knee cartilage transplant. To investigate this, scaffold modeling and diffusion simulation was done in COMSOL. LaTeX was used for proper IEEE paper formatting.
In the team, I set up COMSOL files for changing the scaffold geometric parameters, as well as handling background research for reasonable dimensions to test.
Skills
COMSOL (modeling fluidics), Fluid dynamics, Creating academic posters, LaTeX formatting