Fabricated Microvascular Networks - NIH

Investigators at the University of Arizona have constructed a device akin to a three-dimensional printer for use in constructing engineered tissue samples to be used in implantation. One limitation to this approach is the incorporation of adequate vascularization in the engineered sample to ensure tissue viability. Uintah will be used to model the transport of oxygen and other tissue building blocks in order to optimize the design of the engineered specimens, allowing them to achieve functionality more quickly. The flexibility of Uintah facilitates the implementation of an appropriate numerical approach within a computational framework which readily achieves a high degree of scalability. This, in turn, allows the user to attain the necessary resolution to make confident predictions of the adequacy of the transport of oxygen and other nutrients.