Conference Speakers

Dominique Hassinger

Rowan University

BIOGRAPHY

Dominique is currently a PhD Candidate in the Biomedical Engineering department at Rowan University. Prior to starting a PhD, Dominique obtained a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from The University of New South Wales and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Arcadia University.

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Polymer Nanoyarns for Sports Medicine Applications

"A medical suture developed from nanofiber is a promising candidate for a resorbable suture with enhanced therapeutic outcomes. The small diameter of nanofibers results in a large surface-area-volume -ratio which is favorable environment for cell attachment and mimics the structure of extracellular matrix. These features make nanofibers superior for tissue engineering scaffolds compared to microfibers which have reduced cellular activities and lesser therapeutic effects.

Nanoyarns, though possessing desired features of nanofibers, have shortcomings as result of fabrication techniques. Current methods for assembly of nanoyarns result in nanoyarns that inferior to their microyarn counterparts due to poor mechanics, limited yarn lengths and randomly aligned fibers. The collection of electrospun fibers onto a custom parallel track collector has been explored with much success. This method allows for highly aligned nanofibers and collection onto a continuous roll and post drawing of fibers. By utilizing technology of aligned nanofibers for nanoyarn fabrication, we aim to create a nanoyarn as a potential fully resorbable suture. Nanoyarns were created via means of electrospinning 12.5% w/v polylactic acid (PLA) solution and 18% w/v polycaprolactone solutions and electrospun to nanofiber sheets. Resultant fiber sheets were twisted into yarns on a custom made yarn spinner. PLA and PCL monofilament and one commercial suture were used for controls. All fabricated materials were subjected to the US Pharmacopeia (USP) tensile testing protocol for sutures, underwent degradation in PBS and lipase for a duration of 0,3 and 7 days. Additionally, types of suture retention/pull through tests were deployed to capture the suture qualities of the fabricated materials. We have shown that PCL & PLA nanoyarns fabricated through use of our lab's unique parallel track system and custom yarn spinner is feasible and that resulting post-drawn yarns have an increase in mechanical properties."