Electrospinning is a highly versatile method to process solutions or melts, mainly of polymers, into continuous fibers with diameters ranging from a few micrometers to a few nanometers. This technique is applicable to virtually every soluble or fusible polymer. The polymers can be chemically modified and can also be tailored with additives ranging from simple carbon-black particles to complex species such as enzymes, viruses, and bacteria. Electrospinning appears to be straightforward, but is a rather intricate process that depends on a multitude of molecular, process, and technical parameters. The method provides access to entirely new materials, which may have complex chemical structures. Electrospinning is not only a focus of intense academic investigation; the technique is already being applied in many technological areas.

Electrospinning: A Fascinating Method for the Preparation of Ultrathin Fibers

Electrospinning: Applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering

Molecular self-assembly is the spontaneous association of molecules under equilibrium conditions into stable, structurally well-defined aggregates joined by noncovalent bonds. Molecular self-assembly is ubiquitous in biological systems and underlies the formation of a wide variety of complex biological structures. Understanding self-assembly and the associated noncovalent interactions that connect complementary interacting molecular surfaces in biological aggregates is a central concern in structural biochemistry. Self-assembly is also emerging as a new strategy in chemical synthesis, with the potential of generating nonbiological structures with dimensions of 1 to 10(2) nanometers (with molecular weights of 10(4) to 10(10) daltons). Structures in the upper part of this range of sizes are presently inaccessible through chemical synthesis, and the ability to prepare them would open a route to structures comparable in size (and perhaps complementary in function) to those that can be prepared by microlithography and other techniques of microfabrication.

Molecular self-assembly and nanochemistry: A chemical strategy for the synthesis of nanostructures

Chitosan—A versatile semi-synthetic polymer in biomedical applications

The shapes of eukaryotic cells and ultimately the organisms that they form are defined by cycles of mechanosensing, mechanotransduction and mechanoresponse Local sensing of force or geometry is transduced into biochemical signals that result in cell responses even for complex mechanical parameters such as substrate rigidity and cell-level form These responses regulate cell growth, differentiation, shape changes and cell death Recent tissue scaffolds that have been engineered at the micro- and nanoscale level now enable better dissection of the mechanosensing, transduction and response mechanisms

https://faculty.washington.edu/nsniadec/ME599/S09/private/25Vogel.pdf

Local force and geometry sensing regulate cell functions.

Nanofiber alignment and direction of mechanical strain affect the ECM production of human ACL fibroblast.

The characteristics of a hydroxyapatite-chitosan-PMMA bone cement.

We investigated the potential of a nanofiber-based poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) scaffold to be used for cartilage reconstruction. The mechanical properties of the nanofiber scaffold, degrad...

Electrospun PLGA nanofiber scaffolds for articular cartilage reconstruction: mechanical stability, degradation and cellular responses under mechanical stimulation in vitro.

Jung-Woog Shin

Papers

Nanofiber alignment and direction of mechanical strain affect the ECM production of human ACL fibroblast.

The characteristics of a hydroxyapatite-chitosan-PMMA bone cement.

Electrospun PLGA nanofiber scaffolds for articular cartilage reconstruction: mechanical stability, degradation and cellular responses under mechanical stimulation in vitro.

Hierarchically microporous/macroporous scaffold of magnesium-calcium phosphate for bone tissue regeneration.

Preparation and characterization of bioactive mesoporous wollastonite - Polycaprolactone composite scaffold.