Biofabrication and cellular flows

The goal of biofabrication is to enable the construction of tissue structures by 3D printing of living cells. During the printing process, however, hydrodynamic forces can cause enduring damage to the flowing cells. Here we develop computer simulations to understand, to predict and eventually to minimize the hydrodynamic stresses on living cells during biofabrication.

In order to accurately understand cell mechanics and deformation in hydrodynamic flows, we use Lattice-Boltzmann as well as Boundary-Integral simulations combined with finite-element models. An important step towards such an understanding is to model cellular flows in microchannels as occuring, e.g., in lab-on-a-chip devices. To obtain realistic predictions from our simulations, we closely collaborate with experimental groups.