title: Two-photon laser polymerization: from fundamentals to biomedical application in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
abstract: Three-dimensional material microstructuring by femtosecond laser-induced two-photon polymerization is emerging as an important tool in biomedicine. During two-photon polymerization, a tightly focused femtosecond laser pulse induces a crosslinking photoreaction in the polymer confined within the focal volume. As a rapid-prototyping technique, two-photon polymerization enables the fabrication of truly arbitrary three-dimensional micro- and nano-structures directly from computer models, with a spatial resolution down to 100 nm. In this review, we discuss the fundamentals, experimental methods, and materials used for two-photon polymerization; in addition, we present some applications of this technology related to microfluidics and to biomaterial scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
authors.affiliation: LaBS, Department of Structural Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy. manuela.raimondi@polimi.it
authors.forename: Manuela T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Raimondi
authors.forename: Shane M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Eaton
authors.forename: Michele M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nava
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laganà
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cerullo
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Osellame
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D057005:Bioengineering; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D017785:Photons; D058105:Polymerization; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials