Holographic biofabrication – Tissue-engineering with sound

Focus topic:	Life Science Technologies
Type of funding:	Individual funding programmes
Programme:	CZS Nexus
Funded institution:	Universität Heidelberg

Dr. Kai Melde conducts research into the formation of complex sound fields and their interaction with particles and cells. He studied mechatronics at TU Dresden and worked at the Palo Alto Research Center in California. Most recently, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg.

Goals

Tissue engineering is a new field at the interface of medicine, natural sciences and engineering disciplines. The aim is to create physiologically correct tissue in the laboratory that can be used, for example, to discover and study new drugs.

Dr. Kai Melde's project is dedicated to a new approach: 3D cell culture using ultrasound. New tools are being developed that can be used as an alternative or extension to 3D printing. The basis for the work is the acoustic hologram, which allows complex images to be projected from sound pressure using simple means. Using sound, living cells can be arranged into any shape in 3D without contact, gently and quickly. The aim is to investigate how these structures develop into functional tissues and how sound fields affect the maturation of cell tissue.