University Research

Accessibility

1

Academic department

Department of Chemical, Biomolecular, and Corrosion Engineering

Description

Microporous annealed particle (MAP) scaffolds are emerging as a facile, yet sophisticated biomaterial platform with tremendous potential for tissue regenerative applications. These scaffolds are fabricated in situ through interparticle crosslinking of microgels using a variety of covalent or non-covalent techniques and possess excellent tunability and biocompatibility. The microporous structure of MAP scaffolds allows cellular infiltration and vascularization independent of degradation rate, making them more advantageous than traditional nanoporous bulk hydrogels. Moreover, the incorporation of in situ crosslinking allows MAP scaffolds to retain the key advantages of traditional microgel-based scaffolds—such as injectability and modularity—while providing the added benefit of a fixed packing configuration at the delivery site, enhancing structural integrity and cellular integration. In addition, their properties, such as stiffness, porosity, and composition, can be tailored to precisely modulate cell behavior, making them versatile tools to enhance therapeutic outcomes in various tissue engineering applications, such as cardiac, soft tissue, bone, and cartilage reconstruction. In this review, we explore the design of MAP scaffolds and their use for tissue engineering. We describe the fundamentals of MAP scaffold design, elucidate the fabrication techniques used to make microgel building blocks, highlight current applications in various tissue engineering contexts, and discuss emerging trends in MAP scaffold development.

Publisher name

Elsevier

Grant Information

N/A

Data Management

N/A

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2026

Publication Title

Acta Biomaterialia

Volume

213

First Page

103

Last Page

119

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS