@phdthesis{Seifert2022,
  author    = {Seifert, Annika Kristina},
  title     = {Unidirectional freezing of soft and hard matter for biomedical applications},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-27728},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-277281},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {A multitude of human tissues, such as bones, tendons, or muscles, are characterized by a hierarchical and highly ordered structure. In many cases, the loss of these tissues requires reconstruction using biocompatible replacement materials. In the field of bone replacement, the pore structure of the material has a crucial influence. Anisotropic porosity would have the advantage of facilitating the ingrowth of cells and newly formed blood vessels as well as the transport of nutrients. In this thesis, scaffolds with a highly ordered and anisotropic pore structure were fabricated using unidirectional freezing. Systematic investigations were carried out on biopolymer solutions (alginate and chitosan) to gain a deeper understanding of the freeze-structuring process. The knowledge gained was then applied to the development of anisotropically structured bone substitute materials. Here, the previously existing material platform for anisotropically structured calcium phosphates was extended to low-temperature phases such as calcium deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) or the secondary phosphates monetite and brushite. After the implantation of a biomaterial, the inevitably triggered initial immune response plays a key role in the success of a graft, with immune cells such as neutrophils or macrophages being of particular importance. In this thesis, the influence of anisotropically structured alpha-TCP and CDHA scaffolds as well as their unstructured references on human monocytes/macrophages was investigated. Macrophages produced extracellular traps (ETs) due to mineral nanoparticles formed by the binding of phosphate and calcium ions to human platelet lysate. In particular, incubation of alpha-TCP samples in lysate containing cell culture medium resulted in pronounced particle formation and enhanced release of ETs.},
  subject      = {Freezing},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SeifertGruberGburecketal.2021,
  author    = {Seifert, Annika and Gruber, Julia and Gbureck, Uwe and Groll, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {Morphological control of freeze-structured scaffolds by selective temperature and material control in the ice-templating process},
  series = {Advanced Engineering Materials},
  volume    = {24},
  journal   = {Advanced Engineering Materials},
  number    = {3},
  doi       = {10.1002/adem.202100860},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-256330},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Herein, it is aimed to highlight the importance of the process parameter choice during directional solidification of polymer solutions, as they have a significant influence on the pore structure and orientation. Biopolymer solutions (alginate and chitosan) are directionally frozen, while systematically varying parameters such as the external temperature gradient, the temperature of the overall system, and the temperatures of the cooling surfaces. In addition, the effect of material properties such as molecular weight, solution concentration, or viscosity on the sample morphology is investigated. By selecting appropriate temperature gradients and cooling surface temperatures, aligned pores ranging in size between (50 ± 22) μm and (144 ± 56) μm are observed in the alginate samples, whereas the pore orientation is influenced by altering the external temperature gradient. As this gradient increases, the pores are increasingly oriented perpendicular to the sample surface. This is also observed in the chitosan samples. However, if the overall system is too cold, that is, using temperatures of the lower cooling surface down to -60 °C combined with low temperatures of the upper cooling surface, control over pore orientation is lost. This is also found when viscosity of chitosan solutions is above ≈5 Pas near the freezing point.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SeifertGrollWeichholdetal.2021,
  author    = {Seifert, Annika and Groll, J{\"u}rgen and Weichhold, Jan and Boehm, Anne V. and M{\"u}ller, Frank A. and Gbureck, Uwe},
  title     = {Phase Conversion of Ice-Templated α-Tricalcium Phosphate Scaffolds into Low-Temperature Calcium Phosphates with Anisotropic Open Porosity},
  series = {Advanced Engineering Materials},
  volume    = {23},
  journal   = {Advanced Engineering Materials},
  number    = {5},
  doi       = {10.1002/adem.202001417},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-256311},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {The current study aims to extend the material platform for anisotropically structured calcium phosphates to low-temperature phases such as calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) or the secondary phosphates monetite and brushite. This is achieved by the phase conversion of highly porous α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP) scaffolds fabricated by ice-templating into the aforementioned phases by hydrothermal treatment or incubation in phosphoric acid. Prior to these steps, α-TCP scaffolds are either sintered for 8 h at 1400 °C or remain in their original state. Both nonsintered and sintered α-TCP specimens are converted into CDHA by hydrothermal treatment, while a transformation into monetite and brushite is achieved by incubation in phosphoric acid. Hydrothermal treatment for 72 h at 175 °C increases the porosity in nonsintered samples from 85\% to 88\% and from 75\% to 88\% in the sintered ones. An increase in the specific surface area from (1.102 ± 0.005) to (9.17 ± 0.01) m2 g-1 and from (0.190 ± 0.004) to (2.809 ± 0.002) m2 g-1 due to the phase conversion is visible for both the nonsintered and sintered samples. Compressive strength of the nonsintered samples increases significantly from (0.76 ± 0.11) to (5.29 ± 0.94) MPa due to incubation in phosphoric acid.},
  language  = {en}
}