The achievements of WP1 encompass the successful design, fabrication, and validation of anisotropic cryogels tailored for biomimetic applications. The resulting cryogels exhibit permeability to liquids and tuneable pore architectures with (i) isotropic freezing producing randomly distributed pores, and (ii) anisotropic freezing generating vertically aligned pores that closely mimicked the native deep cartilage layer, confirmed by fluorescence imaging and SEM. The process demonstrates reproducibility across batches, with consistent pore alignment and mechanical stability. This advancement establishes a scalable framework for creating biomimetic scaffolds with application-specific pore orientation, offering significant potential for tissue engineering. From testing the cryogel in the first prototype of PHOENIX-OoC microfluidics, a new configuration is proposed and successively tested. Primary cells have successfully been isolated and tested on the anisotropic cryogels. Cell attachment studies demonstrate that chondrocytes adhered well to the scaffold surfaces, with no significant cytotoxicity. However, optimization studies are ongoing to achieve a more homogeneous distribution, preventing the formation of small clusters and ensuring uniform cell dispersion. The focus of WP2 is on microfluidic device construction and sensor development. Different microfluidic patterns are simulated, modelled and tested. Three sensors are developed and currently being optimized to evaluate their performances and working stability, to assess the feasibility for the challenging continuous measurement in a complex matrix and under flux, using different sensor modification depending on the analyte, and will then be included in the sensor array. The tested analytes are glucose, nitrate and pH, in standard solutions and in cell culture media. Results form WP3 deal with modelling for water and oxygen interaction with cellulose. Quantum-mechanical (QM) and atomistic dynamical simulations unravel details about the intra- and intermolecular interactions and their effects on adsorption, structure, energetics and stability. Computer simulations, data collection and data analytics are all essential ingredients in this endeavour to provide data of unrivalled detail and assist in the interpretation of experiments. At the same time, such simulations are challenging because of (i) the enormous complexity of paper-based materials and cellulose, (ii) the lack of detailed structural information available from experiments, (iii) the importance of considering dynamics and thermodynamics, and (iv) the long timescales needed for some processes to establish themselves (long from a modelling perspective). Water holds a special place for simulations of cellulose in the context of bio- and medical applications as water is omnipresent at ambient conditions and it is the most use solvent in analytical applications. Therefore, there is the need to provide for its presence and interaction competition with cellulose.
