@article {2896,
	title = {A bioreactor with an electro-responsive elastomeric membrane for mimicking intestinal peristalsis},
	journal = {Bioinspiration \& Biomimetics},
	volume = {12},
	year = {2016},
	abstract = {<p>This study describes an actuated bioreactor which mimics the pulsatile contractile motion of the intestinal barrier using electro-responsive elastomers as smart materials that undergo deformation upon electrical stimulation. The device consists of an annular dielectric elastomer actuator working as a radial artificial muscle able to rhythmically contract and relax a central cell culture well. The bioreactor maintained up to 4 h of actuation at a frequency of 0.15 Hz and a strain of 8\%{\textendash}10\%, to those of the cyclic contraction and relaxation of the small intestine. In vitro tests demonstrated that the device was biocompatible and cell-adhesive for Caco-2 cells, which formed a confluent monolayer following 21 days of culture in the central well. In addition, cellular adhesion and cohesion were maintained after 4 h of continuous cyclic strain. These preliminary results encourage further investigations on the use of dielectric elastomer actuation as a versatile technology that might overcome the limitations of commercially available pneumatic driving systems to obtain bioreactors that can cyclically deform cell cultures in a biomimetic fashion.</p>
},
	url = {http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-3190/12/1/016001/pdf},
	author = {D. Cei and J. Costa and G. Gori and G. Frediani and C. Domenici and F. Carpi and A. Ahluwalia}
}
@inbook {1631,
	title = {Biomaterials fabrication and processing handbook},
	year = {2008},
	pages = {{\textendash}},
	chapter = {Rapid Prototyping Methods for Tissue Engineering Applications},
	keywords = {Bioengineering},
	author = {G. Vozzi and A. Ahluwalia}
}
@conference {1642,
	title = {Biomimicry of PAM Microfabricated Hydrogel Scaffolds},
	booktitle = {International Conference on Digital Printing Technologies Conference Proceedings},
	year = {2008},
	pages = {{\textendash}},
	keywords = {Bioengineering},
	author = {Tirella, A and G. Vozzi and A. Ahluwalia}
}
