Gianluca Cidonio

Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia | IIT · Center for Life Nano & Neuro Science

Nanoscale liposomes have been extensively researched and employed clinically for the delivery of biologically active compounds, including chemotherapy drugs and vaccines, offering improved pharmacokinetic behaviour and therapeutic outcomes. Traditional laboratory-scale production methods often suffer from limited control over liposome properties (e...

With the increasing incidence and mortality rates, cancer remains a major health challenge in the world. Despite advances in therapies and clinical programs, the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs often fails to translate from pre-clinical models to patient clinical trials. To date, pre-clinical cancer models, including two-dimensional cell cultures and...

Decellularized tissues offer significant potential as biological materials for tissue regeneration due to their ability to preserve the complex compositions and architecture of the native extracellular matrix (ECM). While the use of decellularized ECM hydrogels from bovine and porcine bone tissues has been extensively studied, the evaluation and de...

Cells are influenced by several biomechanical aspects of their microenvironment, such as substrate geometry. According to the literature, substrate geometry influences the behavior of muscle cells; in particular, the curvature feature improves cell proliferation. However, the effect of substrate geometry on the myogenic differentiation process is n...

Understanding the complexities of the human brain and its associated disorders poses a significant challenge in neuroscience. Traditional research methods have limitations in replicating its intricacies, necessitating the development of in vitro models that can simulate its structure and function. Three-dimensional in vitro models, including organo...

The continuous emergence of novel variants represents one of the major problems in dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Indeed, also due to its prolonged circulation, more than ten variants of concern emerged, each time rapidly overgrowing the current viral version due to improved spreading features. As, up to now, all variants carry at least one mut...

Cells are influenced by several biomechanical aspects of their microenvironment, such as substrate geometry. According to the literature, substrate geometry influences the behavior of muscle cells; in particular, the curvature feature improves cell proliferation. However, the effect of the substrate geometry on the myogenic differentiation process...

Osteochondral tissue (OC) is a complex and multiphasic system comprising cartilage and subchondral bone. The discrete OC architecture is layered with specific zones characterized by different compositions, morphology, collagen orientation, and chondrocyte phenotypes. To date, the treatment of osteochondral defects (OCD) remains a major clinical cha...

Autograft or metal implants are routinely used in skeletal repair but can fail to provide a long-term clinical resolution, emphasising the need for a functional biomimetic tissue engineering alternative. An attractive sustainable opportunity for tissue regeneration would be the application of human bone waste tissue for the synthesis of a material...

the last decade, 3D printing systems have greatly evolved both in terms of processable materials and printing resolutions, becoming a top seed technology for many academic and industrial applications. Nevertheless, manufacturing polymeric materials characterized by a trabecular porosity and functionally graded architecture—where both the local poro...

In most cases, bone injuries heal without complications, however, there is an increasing number of instances where bone healing needs major clinical intervention. Available treatment options have severe drawbacks, such as donor site morbidity and limited availability for autografting. Bone graft substitutes containing growth factors would be a viab...

Bone pain typically occurs immediately following skeletal damage with mechanical distortion or rupture of nociceptive fibres. The pain mechanism is also associated with chronic pain conditions where the healing process is impaired. Any load impacting on the area of the fractured bone will stimulate the nociceptive response, necessitating rapid clin...

Bone pain typically occurs immediately following skeletal damage with mechanical distortion or rupture of nociceptive fibres. The pain mechanism is also associated with chronic pain conditions where the healing process is impaired. Any load impacting on the area of the fractured bone will increase the intraosseous pressure, consequently stimulating...

To date, Additive Manufacturing (AM) has come to the fore as a major disruptive technology embodying two main research lines - developing increasingly sophisticated printing technologies and new processable materials. The latter has fostered a tremendous leap in AM technological advancement, allowing 3D printing to play a central role in dictating...

Synthetic nanostructured materials incorporating both organic and inorganic components offer a unique, powerful, and versatile class of materials for widespread applications due to the distinct, yet complementary, nature of the intrinsic properties of the different constituents. We report a supramolecular system based on synthetic nanoclay (Laponit...

Biofabrication is revolutionizing substitute tissue manufacturing. Skeletal stem cells (SSCs) can be blended with hydrogel biomaterials and printed to form three-dimensional structures that can closely mimic tissues of interest. Our bioink formulation takes into account the potential for cell printing including a bioink nanocomposite that contains...

Bioprinting aims to direct the spatial arrangement in three dimensions of cells, biomaterials and growth factors. The biofabrication of clinically relevant constructs for the repair or modelling of either diseased or damaged tissues is rapidly advancing, resulting in the ability to 3D print biomimetic platforms which imitate a large number of tissu...

Acellular soft hydrogels are not ideal for hard tissue engineering given their poor mechanical stability, however, in combination with cellular components offer significant promise for tissue regeneration. Indeed, nanocomposite bioinks provide an attractive platform to deliver human bone marrow stromal cells (HBMSCs) in three dimensions producing c...

Free-form printing offers a novel biofabrication approach to generate complex shapes by depositing hydrogel materials within a temporary supportive environment. However, printed hydrogels typically lack the requisite mechanical properties and functionality of the desired tissue, limiting application and, more importantly, safety and efficacy of the...

Bioprinting of living cells is rapidly developing as an advanced biofabrication approach to engineer tissues. Bioinks can be extruded in three-dimensions (3D) to fabricate complex and hierarchical constructs for implantation. However, lack of functionality can often be attributed to poor bioink properties. Indeed, advanced bioinks encapsulating liv...

Recent advances in regenerative medicine have confirmed the potential to manufacture viable and effective tissue engineering 3D constructs comprising living cells for tissue repair and augmentation. Cell printing has shown promising potential in cell patterning in a number of studies enabling stem cells to be precisely deposited as a blueprint for...

Current approaches to treat bone fractures typically use: i) autologous bone graft harvested from the patient, which can be proved painful, and ii) non-degradable metal implants that provide the mechanical support needed, but can require numerous revisions and replacement. Biofabrication has come to the fore to target the unmet clinical needs in or...

Three-dimensional printing of cell-laden hydrogels has evolved as a promising approach on the route to patient-specific or complex tissue engineered constructs. However, it is still challenging to print structures with both, high shape fidelity and cell vitality. Herein, we used a synthetic nanosilicate clay, called Laponite, to build up scaffolds...