The success of neural tissue engineering therapies partially rely on transplanted cells engraftment and their functional integration into the injured host tissues. In particular, cells are located in 3-dimensional (3D) microenvironments in vivo, where they are surrounded by other cells and by the extracellular matrix (ECM), whose components are organized mainly in nanostructures displaying specific bioactive motifs that regulate the cell homeostasis. It is therefore essential to develop nanostructured scaffolds providing microenvironments to control and direct the cellular behavior by promoting specific cell-scaffold interactions. Self-assembling peptides (SAPeptides or SAPs) are made of short linear peptides, they are soluble and usually liquid when dissolved in water. They jellify when exposed to a triggering stimulus, that, in the case of SAPeptides to be used in nanomedicine, could be a shift in temperature, pH, or hydrophobicity of the solvent. Cells can be mixed with SAPeptide solutions prior self-assembling, and, can be embedded in true 3D substrates through subsequent gelation. By adopting the same peptide synthesis technique SAPs can be quickly functionalized, and designed for specific applications, like drug release, cell proliferation, differentiation and survival, etc. Another technique suited for the synthesis of nanostructured scaffolds, but with a designed spatial organization, is electro-spinning. This technique allows the fabrication of controllable continuous nanofiber scaffolds made of natural and synthetic polymers, or of inorganic substances. By quickly customizing the standard electro-spinning setup nanofibers can be collected to form hollow guidance channels, non-woven mats with random directionality, or patches with radially oriented fibers. Gelain’s team research interests include design and characterization of novel multi-functionalized sapeptides and electrospun scaffolds for tissue engineering applications and, in particular, for the regeneration of spinal cord injuries and stroke.
