The motivation for this project area is to develop novel biofabrication techniques, tailored biomaterials, and methods to analyze how (stem) cells and epithelia respond to structural, physical, and mechanical properties and forces in 3D constructs and to study how their functions and behavior can be steered. The biomaterial constructs can be designed and produced to control these properties on the nm, µm, and mm scale, while they can be programmed to be dynamically altered via response to cell-induced or external triggers, such as magnetic, acoustic, or electric fields and light. Development of engineering tools that operate at the required time and length scale and allow for multimodal stimulation and measurements require know-how in mechanical, chemical, and electrical engineering. The project area bundles this type of engineering expertise and is tightly linked to the research in the other project areas in order to understand the experimental necessities and answer mechanobiological questions. Depending on the needs for each project, the building blocks can be adjusted especially with regard to stiffness, degradation kinetics, orientation, can be bioprinted into the desired architectures, and can finally be analyzed in situ in the cross-talk with the embedded cells.
