| 11. |
- Puschmann, Till B., et al.
(författare)
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A Novel Method for Three-Dimensional Culture of Central Nervous System Neurons.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Tissue engineering. Part C, Methods. - 1937-3392 .- 1937-3384. ; 20:6, s. 485-492
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Neuronal signal transduction and communication in vivo is based on highly complex and dynamic networks among neurons expanding in a three-dimensional (3D) manner. Studies of cell-cell communication, synaptogenesis, and neural network plasticity constitute major research areas for understanding the involvement of neurons in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease, and in regenerative neural plasticity responses in situations, such as neurotrauma or stroke. Various cell culture systems constitute important experimental platforms to study neuronal functions in health and disease. A major downside of the existing cell culture systems is that the alienating planar cell environment leads to aberrant cell-cell contacts and network formation and increased reactivity of cell culture-contaminating glial cells. To mimic a suitable 3D environment for the growth and investigation of neuronal networks in vitro has posed an insurmountable challenge. Here, we report the development of a novel electrospun, polyurethane nanofiber-based 3D cell culture system for the in vitro support of neuronal networks, in which neurons can grow freely in all directions and form network structures more complex than any culture system has so far been able to support. In this 3D system, neurons extend processes from their cell bodies as a function of the nanofiber diameter. The nanofiber scaffold also minimizes the reactive state of contaminating glial cells.
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| 12. |
- Puschmann, Till B., et al.
(författare)
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Bioactive 3D cell culture system minimizes cellular stress and maintains the in vivo-like morphological complexity of astroglial cells
- 2013
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Ingår i: Glia. - : Wiley. - 0894-1491 .- 1098-1136. ; 61:3, s. 432-440
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We tested the hypothesis that astrocytes grown in a suitable three-dimensional (3D) cell culture system exhibit morphological and biochemical features of in vivo astrocytes that are otherwise lost upon transfer from the in vivo to a two-dimensional (2D) culture environment. First, we report development of a novel bioactively coated nanofiber-based 3D culture system (Bioactive3D) that supports cultures of primary mouse astrocytes. Second, we show that Bioactive3D culture system maintains the in vivo-like morphological complexity of cultured cells, allows movement of astrocyte filopodia in a way that resembles the in vivo situation, and also minimizes the cellular stress, an inherent feature of standard 2D cell culture systems. Third, we demonstrate that the expression of gap junctions is reduced in astrocytes cultured in a 3D system that supports well-organized cell-cell communication, in contrast to the enforced planar tiling of cells in a standard 2D system. Finally, we show that astrocytes cultured in the Bioactive3D system do not show the undesired baseline activation but are fully responsive to activation-inducing stimuli. Thus, astrocytes cultured in the Bioactive3D appear to more closely resemble astrocytes in vivo and represent a superior in vitro system for assessing (patho)physiological and pharmacological responses of these cells and potentially also in co-cultures of astrocytes and other cell types.
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| 13. |
- Wallin, Patric, 1985, et al.
(författare)
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A method to integrate patterned electrospun fibers with microfluidic systems to generate complex microenvironments for cell culture applications
- 2012
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Ingår i: Biomicrofluidics. - : AIP Publishing. - 1932-1058. ; 6:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The properties of a cell's microenvironment are one of the main driving forces in cellular fate processes and phenotype expression in vivo. The ability to create controlled cell microenvironments in vitro becomes increasingly important for studying or controlling phenotype expression in tissue engineering and drug discovery applications. This includes the capability to modify material surface properties within well-defined liquid environments in cell culture systems. One successful approach to mimic extra cellular matrix is with porous electrospun polymer fiber scaffolds, while microfluidic networks have been shown to efficiently generate spatially and temporally defined liquid microenvironments. Here, a method to integrate electrospun fibers with microfluidic networks was developed in order to form complex cell microenvironments with the capability to vary relevant parameters. Spatially defined regions of electrospun fibers of both aligned and random orientation were patterned on glass substrates that were irreversibly bonded to microfluidic networks produced in poly-dimethyl-siloxane. Concentration gradients obtained in the fiber containing channels were characterized experimentally and compared with values obtained by computational fluid dynamic simulations. Velocity and shear stress profiles, as well as vortex formation, were calculated to evaluate the influence of fiber pads on fluidic properties. The suitability of the system to support cell attachment and growth was demonstrated with a fibroblast cell line. The potential of the platform was further verified by a functional investigation of neural stem cell alignment in response to orientation of electrospun fibers versus a microfluidic generated chemoattractant gradient of stromal cell-derived factor 1 alpha. The described method is a competitive strategy to create complex microenvironments in vitro that allow detailed studies on the interplay of topography, substrate surface properties, and soluble microenvironment on cellular fate processes.
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| 14. |
- Wang, Teng, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Low temperature transfer and formation of carbon nanotube arrays by imprinted conductive adhesive
- 2007
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Ingår i: Applied Physics Letters. - : AIP Publishing. - 0003-6951 .- 1077-3118. ; 91:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This letter demonstrates the transfer and formation of aligned carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays at low temperature by imprinted conductive adhesive. A thermoplastic isotropic conductive adhesive is patterned by an imprint and heat transfer process. The CNTs grown by thermal chemical vapor deposition are then transferred to another substrate by the conductive adhesive, forming predefined patterns. The current-voltage response of the transferred CNT bundles verifies that good electrical connection has been established. This process can enable the integration of CNTs into various temperature-sensitive processeses and materials.
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| 15. |
- Zandén, Carl, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Stem cell responses to plasma surface modified electrospun polyurethane scaffolds.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 1549-9634 .- 1549-9642. ; 10:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The topographical effects from functional materials on stem cell behavior are currently of interest in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Here we investigate the influence of argon, oxygen, and hydrogen plasma surface modification of electrospun polyurethane fibers on human embryonic stem cell (hESC) and rat postnatal neural stem cell (NSC) responses. The plasma gases were found to induce three combinations of fiber surface functionalities and roughness textures. On randomly oriented fibers, plasma treatments lead to substantially increased hESC attachment and proliferation as compared to native fibers. Argon plasma was found to induce the most optimal combination of surface functionality and roughness for cell expansion. Contact guided migration of cells and alignment of cell processes were observed on aligned fibers. Neuronal differentiation around 5% was found for all samples and was not significantly affected by the induced variations of surface functional group distribution or individual fiber topography.
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| 16. |
- Zhao, C. H., et al.
(författare)
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Combination of positive charges and honeycomb pores to promote MC3T3-E1 cell behaviour
- 2015
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Ingår i: Rsc Advances. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2046-2069. ; 5:53, s. 42276-42286
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A facile chemistry route to prepare symmetric poly(L-lactide) (PLLA)-based dendritic L-lysine copolymer (PLLA-d), with a PLLA block as the core and lysine dendrons in the two ends to provide certain density of positive charges, through a divergent method is reported. The polymers were characterized by H-1 NMR, GPC and MALDI-TOF to confirm the well-defined chemical architecture. The study on crystallization behaviour demonstrated that the introduction of the lysine dendron favoured the formation of banded spherulites when compared with the PLLA polymer. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results showed that the lysine dendron disrupted PLLA crystalline region and lowered the melting point and crystallinity of PLLA. The PLLA-d was fabricated into honeycomb films (H-PLLA-d) through the breath-figure method for water contact angle test and in vitro study, with flat PLLA, honeycomb PLLA, and flat PLLA-d films (PLLA, H-PLLA, and F-PLLA-d, respectively) as the controls. The water contact angle test indicated that the hydrophilicity of the PLLA-d film was strongly improved after the incorporation of the lysine dendron into PLLA. The incorporation of the lysine dendron increased the surface zeta potential and decreased the mechanical properties of PLLA. Mouse osteoblastic cell (MC3T3-E1) functions including cell attachment, adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation were investigated on PLLA, H-PLLA, F-PLLA-d and H-PLLA-d films. The results indicated that MC3T3-E1 cell functions were significantly enhanced on F-PLLA-d or H-PLLA films and especially H-PLLA-d ones. This study not only demonstrates a facile approach to fabricate a novel copolymer film (H-PLLA-d), which combines positive charges with honeycomb pores, but also provides a potential biomaterial for bone repair by improving osteoblastic cell functions.
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| 17. |
- Banerjee, Debashree, et al.
(författare)
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Elevated thermoelectric figure of merit of n-type amorphous silicon by efficient electrical doping process
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nano Energy. - : Elsevier BV. - 2211-2855 .- 2211-3282. ; 44, s. 89-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The currently dominant thermoelectric (TE) materials used in low to medium temperature range contain Tellurium that is rare and mild-toxic. Silicon is earth abundant and environment friendly, but it is characterized by a poor TE efficiency with a low figure of merit, ZT. In this work, we report that ZT of amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin films can be enhanced by 7 orders of magnitude, reaching ∼0.64 ± 0.13 at room temperature, by means of arsenic ion implantation followed by low-temperature dopant activation. The dopant introduction employed represents a highly controllable doping technique used in standard silicon technology. It is found that the significant enhancement of ZT achieved is primarily due to a significant improvement of electrical conductivity by doping without crystallization so as to maintain the thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient at the level determined by the amorphous state of the silicon films. Our results open up a new route towards enabling a-Si as a prominent TE material for cost-efficient and environment-friendly TE applications at room temperature.
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| 18. |
- Fu, Yifeng, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Graphene related materials for thermal management
- 2020
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Ingår i: 2D Materials. - : IOP Publishing. - 2053-1583. ; 7:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Almost 15 years have gone ever since the discovery of graphene as a single atom layer. Numerous papers have been published to demonstrate its high electron mobility, excellent thermal and mechanical as well as optical properties. We have recently seen more and more applications towards using graphene in commercial products. This paper is an attempt to review and summarize the current status of the research of the thermal properties of graphene and other 2D based materials including the manufacturing and characterization techniques and their applications, especially in electronics and power modules. It is obvious from the review that graphene has penetrated the market and gets more and more applications in commercial electronics thermal management context. In the paper, we also made a critical analysis of how mature the manufacturing processes are; what are the accuracies and challenges with the various characterization techniques and what are the remaining questions and issues left before we see further more applications in this exciting and fascinating field.
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| 19. |
- Jeong, Seung Hee, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Stretchable Thermoelectric Generators Metallized with Liquid Alloy
- 2017
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Ingår i: ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1944-8252 .- 1944-8244. ; 9:18, s. 15791-15797
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Conventional thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are normally hard, rigid, and flat. However, most objects have curvy surfaces, which require soft and even stretchable TEGs for maximizing efficiency of thermal energy harvesting. Here, soft and stretchable TEGs using conventional rigid Bi2Te3 pellets metallized with a liquid alloy is reported. The fabrication is implemented by means of a tailored layer-by-layer fabrication process. The STEGs exhibit an output power density of 40.6 ?W/cm2 at room temperature. The STEGs are operational after being mechanically stretched-and-released more than 1000 times, thanks to the compliant contact between the liquid alloy interconnects and the rigid pellets. The demonstrated interconnect scheme will provide a new route to the development of soft and stretchable energy-harvesting avenues for a variety of emerging electronic applications.
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| 20. |
- Wang, Nan, 1988, et al.
(författare)
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Tailoring the Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Graphene Film by Structural Engineering
- 2018
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Ingår i: Small. - : Wiley. - 1613-6810 .- 1613-6829. ; 14:29
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Due to substantial phonon scattering induced by various structural defects, the in-plane thermal conductivity (K) of graphene films (GFs) is still inferior to the commercial pyrolytic graphite sheet (PGS). Here, the problem is solved by engineering the structures of GFs in the aspects of grain size, film alignment, and thickness, and interlayer binding energy. The maximum K of GFs reaches to 3200 W m−1K−1and outperforms PGS by 60%. The superior K of GFs is strongly related to its large and intact grains, which are over four times larger than the best PGS. The large smooth features about 11 µm and good layer alignment of GFs also benefit on reducing phonon scattering induced by wrinkles/defects. In addition, the presence of substantial turbostratic-stacking graphene is found up to 37% in thin GFs. The lacking of order in turbostratic-stacking graphene leads to very weak interlayer binding energy, which can significantly decrease the phonon interfacial scattering. The GFs also demonstrate excellent flexibility and high tensile strength, which is about three times higher than PGS. Therefore, GFs with optimized structures and properties show great potentials in thermal management of form-factor-driven electronics and other high-power-driven systems.
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