Estimating Cell Viability in Regenerative Medicine Labs from Biofabrication Scaffold Design

Abstract

This paper presents a novel methodology that bridges the gap between biological performance and environmental sustainability in regenerative medicine. Traditionally, the design of biofabrication scaffolds has focused exclusively on optimizing mechanical properties, degradation rates, and cytocompatibility to maximize cell viability. However, the energy-intensive processes, raw material extraction, and chemical waste generated during these laboratory-scale activities exert a significant environmental toll. This study introduces an integrated framework that utilizes environmental Lifecycle Assessment as a predictive tool to evaluate cell viability while simultaneously quantifying environmental impacts. By establishing a direct link between scaffold design parameters, manufacturing energy demands, and cellular outcomes, we demonstrate that environmental inventory data can serve as an indirect indicator of laboratory-scale cytotoxicity. Using human mesenchymal stem cells as a model biological system, we systematically analyze various synthetic and natural polymeric scaffolds. Our findings suggest that optimizing scaffold design for minimal ecological footprints, such as reducing solvent volumes and thermal energy inputs during fabrication, correlates strongly with improved cellular viability due to the reduction of residual toxic reagents and process-induced shear stress. This work establishes a dual-objective optimization paradigm that helps researchers design highly viable tissue constructs without compromising global ecological systems.