Anthony Callanan

• Phd
• Fellow at University of Edinburgh

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of global mortality. Treatment methods such as bypass graft operations, while often successful, can fail in cases of systemic disease or compliance mismatch. Tissue engineered vascular grafts may offer a potential solution, by means of an implantable cell‐seeded scaffold that can integrate into...

Passive anti-icing coatings are a promising solution to the dangers of ice accumulation on surfaces. We studied plain polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and (commercially available) NuSil R-2180 coatings alongside PDMS coatings infused with two molecular weights and percentages of silicone oil. The icephobicity of the coatings was measured via ice adhesio...

Liver disease cases are rapidly expanding worldwide, and transplantation remains the only effective cure for end-stage disease. There is an increasing demand for developing potential drug treatments, and regenerative therapies using in-vitro culture platforms. Human decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) is an appealing alternative to conventio...

Small‐diameter vascular grafts having biomechanical properties similar to those of native arteries for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases are still elusive. Here, a hybrid extrusion printing and electrospinning technique is presented in which a layer of electrospun nanofibers is deposited over the printed gelatin‐methacryloyl (gelMA) construc...

Liver disease cases are rapidly expanding worldwide, and transplantation remains the only effective cure for end-stage disease. There is an increasing demand for developing potential drug treatments, and regenerative therapies using in-vitro culture platforms. Human decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) is an appealing alternative to conventio...

Background: Increased cancer rates denote that one in two people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Over 60% of cancer patients receive radiotherapy, either as a stand-alone treatment or in combination with other treatments such as chemotherapy and surgery. Whilst radiotherapy is effective in destroying cancer cells, it also causes su...

Donor liver shortage is a crucial global public health problem as whole-organ transplantation is the only definitive cure for liver disease. Liver tissue engineering aims to reproduce or restore function through in vitro tissue constructs, which may lead to alternative treatments for active and chronic liver disease. The formulation of a multifunct...

Tissue engineering provides promise for regeneration of cardiac tissue following myocardial infarction. However, the harsh microenvironment of the infarct hampers the efficacy of regenerative therapies. Ischemia‐reperfusion injury dramatically increases the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within the infarcted area, causing a cascade of furt...

The limited regenerative capacity of the human body, in conjunction with a shortage of healthy autologous tissue, has created an urgent need for alternative grafting materials. A potential solution is a tissue-engineered graft, a construct which supports and integrates with host tissue. One of the key challenges in fabricating a tissue-engineered g...

Reproducing both the mechanical and biological performance of native blood vessels remains an ongoing challenge in vascular tissue engineering. Additive-lathe printing offers an attractive method of fabricating long tubular constructs as a potential vascular graft for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Printing hydrogels onto rotating horizo...

Regenerative medicine strategies place increasingly sophisticated demands on 3D biomaterials to promote tissue formation at sites where tissue would otherwise not form. Ideally, the discovery/fabrication of the 3D scaffolds needs to be high-throughput and uniform to ensure quick and in-depth analysis in order to pinpoint appropriate chemical and me...

Unsupervised estimation of the dimensionality of hyperspectral microspectroscopy datasets containing pure and mixed spectral features, and extraction of their representative endmember spectra, remains a challenge in biochemical data mining. We report a new versatile algorithm building on semi-nonnegativity constrained self-modeling curve resolution...

Primary hypothyroidism severely impacts the quality of life of patients through a decrease in the production of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4, leading to symptoms affecting cardiovascular, neurological, cognitive, and metabolic function. The incidence rate of primary hypothyroidism is expected to increase in the near future, partially due to incre...

Liver disease is expanding across the globe; however, health‐care systems still lack approved pharmaceutical treatment strategies to mitigate potential liver failures. Organ transplantation is the only treatment for liver failure and with increasing cases of liver disease, transplant programs increasingly cannot provide timely transplant availabili...

Significant progress has been made in methods for cardiac repair and regeneration within the past few decades; however, the diseased microenvironment of the infarct remains a limitation in the efficacy of therapies. A breadth of research is currently aiming to reverse this environment, focusing on immunomodulation, scavenging of oxidative species,...

BACKGROUND Today’s treatment options for renal diseases fall behind the need, as the number of patients has increased considerably over the last few decades. Tissue engineering (TE) is one avenue which may provide a new approach for renal disease treatment. This involves creating a niche where seeded cells can function in an intended way. One appro...

Bypass grafting is a technique used in the treatment of vascular disease, which is currently the leading cause of mortality worldwide. While technology has moved forward over the years, synthetic grafts still show significantly lower rates of patency in small diameter bypass operations compared to the gold standard (autologous vessel grafts). Scaff...

Surgical repair for the end stage bladder disease utilises vascularised, autogenous and mucus-secreting gastrointestinal tissue to replace the diseased organ or to augment inadequate bladder tissue. Post-operatively, the compliance of the bowel is often enough to restore the basic shape, structure and function of the urinary bladder; however, lifel...

Severe liver disease is one of the most common causes of death globally. Currently, whole organ transplantation is the only therapeutic method for end-stage liver disease treatment, however, the need for donor organs far outweighs demand. Recently liver tissue engineering is starting to show promise for alleviating part of this problem. Electrospin...

Mimicking the native 3- dimensional microenvironment is of crucial importance when biofabricating a new healthcare material. One aspect of the native tissue that is often omitted when designing a suitable scaffold is its anisotropy. Not only is matching native mechanical properties important when designing implantable scaffolds or healthcare materi...

Occlusive artery disease and cardiovascular disease are the major causes of death globally. These diseases are caused by the blockage in the arteries, which results in a decreased blood flow to the tissues of major organs in the body, such as the heart. Bypass surgery is often performed using a vascular graft to re-route the blood flow. Autologous...

There is a high demand for small diameter vascular grafts having mechanical and biological properties similar to that of living tissues. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts using current methods have often failed due to the mismatch of mechanical properties between the implanted graft and living tissues. To address this limitation, a hybrid bioprinti...

Liver disease cases are rapidly expanding across the globe and the only effective cure for end-stage disease is a transplant. Transplant procedures are costly and current supply of donor livers does not satisfy demand. Potential drug treatments and regenerative therapies that are being developed to tackle these pressing issues require effective in-...

An exponential increase in liver disease is driving a critical shortage of donor livers for patient transplant. In the UK alone, 58 people died in 2019 while waiting for a donor organ. A solution is sought in the form of tissue-engineered devices which support the survival and function of primary human hepatocytes. Previous work has shown that biof...

The following is a review of the processes currently employed when validating the intracranial response of Finite Element Head Models (FEHM) against blunt impacts. The authors aim to collate existing validation tools, their applications and findings on their effectiveness to aid researchers in the validation of future FEHM and potential efforts in...

The aim of this study was to look at how the composition and morphology of polymer scaffolds could be altered to create an optimized environment for endothelial cells. Four polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds were electrospun with increasing fibre diameters ranging from 1.64 μm to 4.83 μm. The scaffolds were seeded with human umbilical vein endothelia...

It is thought that osteoarthritis is one of the world's leading causes of disability, with over 8.75 million people in the UK alone seeking medical treatment in 2013. Although a number of treatments are currently in use, a new wave of tissue engineered structures are being investigated as potential solutions for early intervention. One of the key c...

This research provides a thorough study of the mechanical response of PCL scaffolds and determines their deformation micromechanisms at different scales by a combination of experimental techniques (mechanical tests, scanning electron microscopy, wide angle X-ray diffraction and small-angle X-ray scattering). Scaffolds with different fibre orientati...

The prevalence of osteoarthritis is on the rise, and an effective treatment for cartilage defects is still being sought. Cartilage tissue in vivo encompasses complex structures and composition, both of which influence cells and many properties of the native cartilage. The extracellular matrix structure and components provides both morphological cue...

Electrospinning affords researchers the opportunity to fabricate reproducible micro to nanoscale polymer fibers. The 3D fibrous architecture of electrospun polymers is regarded as a structural imitation of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Hence, electrospun fibers fabricated from biocompatible polymers have been widely investigated by tissue enginee...

In this work, a nozzle-free electrospinning device was built to obtain high-throughput production of silk fibroin-based biocompatible composite fibers with tunable wettability. Synthetic biomaterials tend to present suboptimal cell growth and proliferation, with many studies linking this phenomenon to the hydrophobicity of such surfaces. In this st...

Three dimensional synthetic polymer scaffolds have remarkable chemical and mechanical tunability in addition to biocompatibility. However, the chemical and physical space is vast in view of the number of variables that can be altered e.g. chemical composition, porosity, pore size and mechanical properties to name but a few. Here, we report the deve...

The aim when designing a scaffold is to provide a supportive microenvironment for the native cells, which is generally achieved by structurally and biochemically imitating the native tissue. Decellularized extracellular matrix (ECM) possesses the mechanical and biochemical cues designed to promote native cell survival. However, when decellularized...

Osteoarthritis is the predominant form of arthritis and is a leading cause of disability. Tissue engineered scaffolds are showing great promise for the treatment of cartilage defects. The cartilage consists of a complex architecture, which is greatly responsible for its properties and functions. In this study, highly porous multizone scaffolds were...

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Therefore, new research strategies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease are required. Previously, extracellular matrices (ECMs) have been used alongside polymers to generate hybrid bioscaffolds. Herein, we propose combining aortic ECMs with a polycaprolactone electrospun sca...

Biomimetic electrospun materials for wound healing and skin regeneration emphasize on the development of biologically responsive constructs that incorporate an Extracellular matrix (ECM)-like architecture, which mitigates the necessary support for guiding cellular response and activities, ultimately allowing for mediated reepithelialization and neo...

A novel composite for skin tissue engineering applications by use of blends of Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and Poly (glycerol sebacate) (PGS) was fabricated via the scalable nozzle-free electrospinning technique. The formed PVP:PGS blends were morphologically, thermochemically and mechanically characterized. The morphology of the developed fibers...

Cartilage degeneration or damage treatment is still a challenge, but, tissue engineering strategies, which combine cell therapy strategies, which combine cell therapy and scaffolds, and have emerged as a promising new approach. In this regard, polyurethanes and polyacrylates polymers have been shown to have clinical potential to treat osteochondral...

Tissue engineering of a transplantable liver could provide an alternative to donor livers for transplant, solving the problem of escalating donor shortages. One of the challenges for tissue engineers is the extracellular matrix (ECM); a finely controlled in vivo niche which supports hepatocytes. Polymers and decellularized tissue scaffolds each pro...

Liver transplant is the only curative treatment option for patients with end-stage liver failure, however there are few donor livers available for transplant. Tissue engineering of a human liver would potentially solve the problem of escalating donor shortages. A major challenge presents itself in the form of the hepatic extracellular matrix (ECM);...

Scaffolds and implants used for tissue engineering need to be adapted for their mechanical properties with respect to their environment within the human body. Therefore, a novel composite for skin tissue engineering is presented by use of blends of Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) were fabricated via the needleless ele...

Liver disease is an escalating global health issue. While liver transplantation is an effective mode of therapy, patient mortality has increased due to the shortage of donor organs. Developing renewable sources of human liver tissue is therefore attractive. Pluripotent stem cell-derived liver tissue represents a potential alternative to cadaver der...

Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of pain and disability worldwide. Despite treatment availability, fully functional and suitable long term treatments for large cartilage defects is yet to be sought. Cartilage tissue engineering provides an alternative treatment option with the potential of cartilage regeneration. Previously, scaffolds have been...

Osteoarthritis is predicted to become the fourth leading cause of disability by 2020. Engineered scaffolds have shown promise in the field of cartilage tissue engineering. The primary aim of scaffolds is to mimic the architecture and mechanical properties of the native cartilage to promote successful regeneration. This study employs cryo-printing,...

Polymer scaffolds have shown promising results in bone and cartilage repair when the underlying property being designed for is morphological. Despite their ability to mimic the morphology of the native extracellular matrix, current studies have not managed to find a polymer-solvent-method combination that provides sufficient mechanical strength. Th...

Trabecular bone is a cellular composite material comprising primarily of mineral and organic phases with their content ratio known to change with age. Therefore, the contribution of bone constituents on bone’s mechanical behaviour, in tension and compression, at varying load levels and with changing porosity (which increases with age) is of great i...

Chronic kidney disease is a major global health problem affecting millions of people; kidney tissue engineering provides an opportunity to better understand this disease, and has the capacity to provide a cure. Two-dimensional cell culture and decellularised tissue have been the main focus of this research thus far, but despite promising results th...

Needleless electrospinning for elastic PGS/PVP scaffolds as skin substitutes.

There is a pressing need for further advancement in tissue engineering of functional organs with a view to providing a more clinically relevant model for drug development and reduce the dependence on organ donation. Polymer-based scaffolds, such as polycaprolactone (PCL), have been highlighted as a potential avenue for tissue engineered kidneys, bu...

Background: There is a potential for direct model manufacturing of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) using 3D printing technique for generating flexible semi-transparent prototypes. A patient-specific AAA model was manufactured using fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing technology. A flexible, semi-transparent thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)...

The number of people suffering with end stage renal disease is increasing year on year, with and estimated 1.9million people worldwide currently undergoing renal replacement therapy 1. A chronic shortage in organ donors means that in the United States alone over 400,000 people are undergoing dialysis treatment 2, this brings a huge social and econo...

Chronic kidney disease is a major global health problem affecting millions of people, kidney tissue engineering provides an opportunity to better understand this disease and has the capacity to provide a cure. Two-dimensional cell culture and decellularised tissue have been the main focus of this research thus far with promising results; although,...

Hepatocytes are known to respond to the mechanical stimuli of their surrounding microenvironment 1. Liver tissue engineering aims to create a niche environment for the survival and function of hepatocytes, however little is known regarding the mechanical properties of the human liver 2. A human liver was obtained approximately 12 hours post-mortem,...

In 2-D culture, hepatocytes are observed to be flattened, with a corresponding loss of liver-specific mRNA such as CYP2C11. In contrast, hepatocytes cultured in 3-D environments display round and aggregated morphologies and a gene expression profile more similar to that found in vivo 1. Conjugate scaffolds are of particular interest to tissue engin...

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is the most frequent cardiac valve pathology. Its standard treatment consists of surgical replacement either with mechanical (metal made) or biological (animal tissue made) valve prostheses, both of which have glaring deficiencies. In the search for novel materials to manufacture artificial valve tissue, we have...

Liver transplant is the only treatment option for patients with end-stage liver failure, however there are too few donor livers available for transplant. Whole organ tissue engineering presents a potential solution to the problem of rapidly escalating donor liver shortages world-wide. A major challenge for liver tissue engineers is the creation of...

Liver disease in the under-65s has risen by 500% since 1970, with mortality increasing by 400% in the same time period. A treatment is sought in the form of liver 'organoids'; lab grown devices which support the survival and function of hepatocytes. While scientists can maintain liver organoids in the lab, decade's worth of research has failed to t...

Renal transplantation is well established as the optimal form of renal replacement therapy but is restricted by the limited pool of organs available for transplantation. The whole organ decellularisation approach is leading the way for a regenerative medicine solution towards bioengineered organ replacements. However, systematic preoptimization of...

Strategies to design novel vascular scaffolds are a continuing aim in tissue engineering and often such designs encompass the use of recombinant factors to enhance the performance of the scaffold. The established use of cell secretion utilized in feeder systems and conditioned media offer a source of paracrine factors, which has potential to be use...

A urinary bladder bioreactor was constructed to replicate physiological bladder dynamics. A cyclical low-delivery pressure regulator mimicked filling pressures of the human bladder. Cell growth was evaluated by culturing human urothelial cells (UCs) on porcine extracellular matrix scaffolds (ECMs) in the bioreactor and in static growth conditions f...

Synthetic hydrogels are attractive biomaterials due to their similarity to natural tissues and their chemical tunability, which can impart abilities to respond to environmental cues e.g. temperature, pH and light. The mechanical properties of hydrogels can be enhanced by the generation of a double-network. Here, we report the development of an arra...

Tubularized porcine extracellular matrices (ECMs) are under investigation as adjuvant scaffolds for endovascular aneurismal repair (EVAR). Limitations with tubularized ECMs in this setting include difficulties in achieving a confluent endothelium on the scaffold's luminal surface prior to in vivo implantation. In this in vitro study a rotational "c...

Deployment of stent-grafts, derived from synthetic biomaterials, is an established minimally invasive approach for effectively treating abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). However, a notable disadvantage associated with this surgical technique is migration of the deployed stent-graft due to poor biocompatibility and inadequate integration in vivo. R...

Tissue engineered acellular vascular grafts are an emerging concept in the development of vascular prostheses for the minimally invasive treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds, such as small intestinal submucosa (SIS) and urinary bladder matrix (UBM), offer many advantages over currently available synthetic devic...

Articular cartilage lesions are a particular challenge for regenerative medicine strategies as cartilage function stems from a complex depth-dependent organisation. Tissue engineering scaffolds that vary in morphology and function offer a template for zone-specific cartilage extracellular matrix production and mechanical properties. We fabricated m...

Tissue-engineered biomaterials have shown recent promise as adjuvant scaffolds for treating stress urinary incontinence (SUI). The objective of the present study was to compare their mechanical and regenerative properties with synthetic biomaterials in this urogynaecological setting. The biomechanical properties of polypropylene (Serasis®; n = 12),...

Articular cartilage provides a low-friction, wear-resistant surface for diarthrodial joints. Due to overloading and overuse, articular cartilage is known to undergo significant wear and degeneration potentially resulting in osteoarthritis (OA). Regenerative medicine strategies offer a promising solution for the treatment of articular cartilage defe...

A novel responsive system using a protein-based biopolymer was designed to undergo structural, geometric, and chemical changes upon temperature change or solvent interaction. Poly([gamma]-glutamic acid) ([gamma]-PGA) is an attractive candidate for various biomedical applications as it is naturally produced, biocompatible and enzymatically degradabl...

Purpose: Autogenous ileal tissue remains the gold-standard biomaterial for bladder replacement purposes; however, cell-seeded extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds have shown promise. Although the biological advantages of cell-seeded ECMs in urological settings are well documented, there is a paucity of data available on their biomechanical propert...

Patient-specific modelling of abdominal aortic aneurysm has been shown to have clinical potential. This paper examines a large ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm where the tissue from the diseased wall and the intraluminal thrombus was excised during open surgical repair and experimentally characterised. The mechanical data were used to develop mat...

Organ transplantation is now a well-established procedure for the treatment of end-stage organ failure due to various causes but is a victim of its own success in that there is a growing disparity in numbers between the donor organ pool available for transplantation and the patients eligible for such a procedure, hence an alternative solution to th...