32 專題探討 • TOPIC INSIGHT 澳大新語 • 2025 UMAGAZINE 32 manufacture of medical devices, artificial implants, and tissue engineering scaffolds that display mechanical properties similar to those of soft tissues. Prof Lei explains that her team has developed a novel technique to create the ideal circumferential fibre structure by integrating the principle of phase transition from physics, structural design from materials engineering, and biomimetic concepts from bioengineering. This is achieved by inducing ice crystals to grow parallel within the hydrogel under slow freezing conditions. She adds, ‘Thanks to its unique bioinspired characteristics, this hydrogel effectively addresses the issue of mechanical mismatch between traditional implants and human tissues. It can be used to create medical devices and implants that more closely mimic the softness and toughness of biological tissues, thereby significantly enhancing patient comfort and clinical compatibility.’ Notably, the manufacturing process of the hydrogel represents a significant leap forward compared to traditional preparation methods that rely on liquid nitrogen and rapid freezing. The core technique, concentric ice-templating, requires no complex equipment; the desired circumferential fibre structure can be stably constructed simply through controlled slow freezing in a standard refrigerator. Prof Lei emphasises that this breakthrough not only enables large-scale production of the hydrogel and dramatically reduces costs, but also lays a solid foundation for future clinical translation and commercial applications. Molecular Glue That Activates Tissue Self-Repair While bioinspired hydrogels provide a macro-level structural scaffold for artificial tissues, researchers are taking a microscopic, molecular approach when it comes to the precise repair of specific tissues. This is the focus of the research team led by Wang Chunming, professor in the State Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Quality of Chinese Medicine and the Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences. The polysaccharide glue developed by Prof Wang and his team is not merely a mechanical implant; it is a medium that interacts with the living body and enhances its regenerative abilities at a molecular level. The polysaccharide glue functions as a As traditional medical technologies reach their limitations, the integration of medical technology with new materials becomes key to advancing precision medicine. Researchers at the University of Macau (UM) are at the forefront of this interdisciplinary innovation. Drawing inspiration from intricate structures refined through millions of years of human evolution, they are developing a range of revolutionary new materials, fundamentally pushing the boundaries of medical technology. Bioinspired Hydrogels Compatible With Human Tissues Developing artificial tissues that can harmoniously integrate with the human body is a key step towards breakthroughs in the integration of new materials and medical technology. This requires not only excellent biocompatibility, but also a high degree of mechanical matching with native tissues to resolve the long-standing challenge of mechanical discrepancies between native tissues and implant materials. Native biological tissues have evolved over millions of years. A prime example is the annulus fibrosus in the human intervertebral disc. This tissue, with its unique circumferential fibre structure, can remain durable despite enduring millions of compression cycles throughout a lifetime, far exceeding the capabilities of current artificial materials. Inspired by this observation, Lei Iek Man, assistant professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology, and her research team overcame the limitations of traditional techniques to develop circumferentially aligned fibre hydrogels. This bioinspired material boasts a high water content of up to 85%, which is similar to that of real soft tissues. It also exhibits superior mechanical properties. Through a technique called ‘rotary compression annealing’, the material demonstrates remarkable toughness, with its tensile strength reaching 14MPa. It also possesses excellent fatigue resistance and compressive strength, effectively creating a scaffold for artificial tissues that is both soft and resilient, matching the mechanical properties of native tissues. This bioinspired, circumferentially aligned fibre hydrogel offers a novel approach to the
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