Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has produced revolutionary success in hematological cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. Nonetheless, its translation to solid tumors faces challenges due to manufacturing complexities, short-lived in vivo persistence, and transient therapeutic impact. We introduce 'Drydux' - an innovative macroporous biomaterial scaffold designed for rapid, efficient in-situ generation of tumor-specific CAR T cells. Drydux expedites CAR T cell preparation with a mere three-day turnaround from patient blood collection, presenting a cost-effective, streamlined alternative to conventional methodologies. Notably, Drydux-enabled CAR T cells provide prolonged in vivo release, functionality, and enhanced persistence exceeding 150 days, with cells transitioning to memory phenotypes. Unlike conventional CAR T cell therapy, which offered only temporary tumor control, equivalent Drydux cell doses induced lasting tumor remission in various animal tumor models, including systemic lymphoma, peritoneal ovarian cancer, metastatic lung cancer, and orthotopic pancreatic cancer. Drydux's approach holds promise in revolutionizing solid tumor CAR T cell therapy by delivering durable, rapid, and cost-effective treatments and broadening patient accessibility to this groundbreaking therapy.

Despite their clinical success, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies for B cell malignancies are limited by lengthy, costly and labor-intensive ex vivo manufacturing procedures that might lead to cell products with heterogeneous composition. Here we describe an implantable Multifunctional Alginate Scaffold for T Cell Engineering and Release (MASTER) that streamlines in vivo CAR-T cell manufacturing and reduces processing time to a single day. When seeded with human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and CD19-encoding retroviral particles, MASTER provides the appropriate interface for viral vector-mediated gene transfer and, after subcutaneous implantation, mediates the release of functional CAR-T cells in mice. We further demonstrate that in vivo-generated CAR-T cells enter the bloodstream and control distal tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model of lymphoma, showing greater persistence than conventional CAR-T cells. MASTER promises to transform CAR-T cell therapy by fast-tracking manufacture and potentially reducing the complexity and resources needed for provision of this type of therapy.

The ice-templating technique enables the fabrication of multilayered ceramic-based composite materials. Very little is known on the inelastic deformation mechanisms that evolve in this class of composite materials under compressive loading conditions and cause macroscopic failure. The current investigation is motivated by a recent study by the authors, which revealed that the uniaxial compressive response of ice-templated ceramic–polymer composites is strongly dependent on the loading direction relative to the layer orientation. The current investigation reveals that the inelastic deformation mechanisms in ice-templated alumina–epoxy composites are strongly influenced by the compressive loading orientation relative to the growth direction of ice crystals. The deformation mechanisms were investigated for the loading directions of 0° (parallel to the growth direction), 45° (to the growth direction), and 90° (to the growth direction). For 0°, kink band formation and longitudinal splitting were observed to be the primary strength limiting mechanisms. Kink band formation could be the primary strength limiting factor and responsible for the catastrophic-type compressive failure response. For the loading directions of 45° and 90°, interface delamination and fracture within the lamella walls and across the alumina–epoxy interfaces were the main deformation mechanisms. These mechanisms significantly reduced the compressive strength but attributed progressive-type failure behavior in ice-templated composites. The knowledge of the inelastic deformation mechanisms in ice-templated ceramic–polymer composites under compressive loading is vital for an improved understanding of structure–mechanical property relationships and hierarchical materials design.

Two-dimensional composites of metal particles and polymers hold the promise to enable revolutionary applications. The research and development of these films have been ongoing for over 60?years and new manufacturing and characterization techniques keep increasing the pace of advancements. Retrieving quantitative information from these types of samples can be a difficult and time-consuming task when using line of sight imaging modalities. In this work a mixed-matrix membrane with Co-containing ZIF-67 was studied with lab-based X-ray computed tomography. The benefits and limitations of what the computed tomography technique has to offer are presented and discussed.

Protocols to create metal-organic framework (MOF)/polymer composites for separation, chemical capture, and catalytic applications currently rely on relatively slow solution-based processing to form single MOF composites. Here, we report a rapid, high-yield sorption-vapor method for direct simultaneous growth of single and multiple MOF materials onto untreated flexible and stretchable polymer fibers and films. The synthesis utilizes favorable reactant absorption into polymers coupled with rapid vapor-driven MOF crystallization to form high surface area (>250 m²/g_composite) composites, including UiO-66-NH₂, HKUST-1, and MOF-525 on spandex, nylon, and other fabrics. The resulting composites are robust and maintain their functionality even after stretching. Stretchable MOF fabrics enable rapid solid-state hydrolysis of the highly toxic chemical warfare agent soman and paraoxon-methyl simulant. We show that this approach can readily be scaled by solution spray-coating of MOF precursors and to large area substrates.

Direct foam writing allows the fabrication of highly porous and hierarchical ceramic structures with high specific mechanical properties. This manufacturing technique, however, has mainly used stabilized Al2O3 foam inks. In this work, we pressent a novel foam ink based on TiO2. This ink uses polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binder and a small amount of zinc as a frothing agent. We used this ink to produce cylindrical foam samples via direct foam writing. The foams had a porosity of up to 65% and a mean pore size of 180 μm, which is significantly larger than previously reported for direct foam writing with Al2O3. The foams were tested in compression and were found to have an elastic modulus of 0.5 GPa and a compressive strength of 12–18 MPa. These mechanical properties are similar to those of porous ceramics produced by conventional manufacturing routes. Therefore, this work represents a step forward by broadening the direct foam writing process to a wider range of porous ceramics.

Defects in electron beam melting (EBM) manufactured Alloy 718 are inevitable to some extent, and are of concern as they can degrade mechanical properties of the material. Therefore, EBM-manufactured Alloy 718 is typically subjected to post-treatment to improve the properties of the as-built material. Although hot isostatic pressing (HIPing) is usually employed to close the defects, it is widely known that HIPing cannot close open-to-surface defects. Therefore, in this work, a hypothesis is formulated that if the surface of the EBM-manufactured specimen is suitably coated to encapsulate the EBM-manufactured specimen, then HIPing can be effective in healing such surface-connected defects. The EBM-manufactured Alloy 718 specimens were coated by high-velocity air fuel (HVAF) spraying using Alloy 718 powder prior to HIPing to evaluate the above approach. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) analysis of the defects in the same coated sample before and after HIPing showed that some of the defects connected to the EBM specimen surface were effectively encapsulated by the coating, as they were closed after HIPing. However, some of these surface-connected defects were retained. The reason for such remnant defects is attributed to the presence of interconnected pathways between the ambient and the original as-built surface of the EBM specimen, as the specimens were not coated on all sides. These pathways were also exaggerated by the high surface roughness of the EBM material and could have provided an additional path for argon infiltration, apart from the uncoated sides, thereby hindering complete densification of the specimen during HIPing.

In this work, aluminium–carbon-fibre reinforced plastic joints have been studied. Three types of samples were designed as double lap joints where the aluminium inserts were fabricated using both classical methods (milling) and additive manufacturing. Two versions of the joint were fabricated using additive manufacturing, one flat, and the other with small teeth designed to hook into the carbon-fibre plies. The joints were characterised using a non-linear, dual-energy computed tomography method to evaluate the bond between the composite and the metal inserts. The mechanical strength of the bonds was evaluated, both through tensile tests and four-point bending. A simple finite element model was used to discuss the joints behaviour. It was found that the joints fabricated using additive manufactured inserts were more resistant to peel stress than the milled inserts. In four-point bending tests the moment that the joint could withstand was increased by roughly 300% with the use of additive manufacturing and 400% with the use of additive manufacturing and small teeth. However, in tensile tests it was found that the teeth design reduced the maximum load capacity of the joints by roughly 30% due to porosity. Further, it was found that the additive manufactured samples did not add to the capability of withstanding shearstress. The information gained with the dual-energy computed tomography method was highly valuable as the behaviour of the joints would have been difficult to explain without the porosity information.

In this work the effects of fabrication errors in the Body Centered Cubic strut lattice, and the periodic surface lattice Schwarz Diamond has been investigated. The lattices were both fabricated as-is and with induced errors to evaluate the lattices response to fabrication errors. The behaviour of the lattices were studied using compression test and in-situ computed tomography investigation. The results show that the Schwarz Diamond lattices in general are stronger than the Body Centered Cubic lattices in all of the measured aspects. Often up to five times stronger. It was also found that the elastic behaviour of the Schwarz Diamond lattices were mainly unaffected by fabrication errors while the Body Centered Cubic lattices experienced severe losses in performance. The behaviour of the lattices under compression could be followed using computed tomography which aided in the understanding of their behaviour.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most common additive manufacturing (AM) techniques for fabricating prototypes as well as functional parts. In this technique, several parameters may influence the part quality and consequently mechanical properties of fabricated components. In this paper, an experimental investigation on effects of fabrication temperature as one of the influential parameters on mechanical properties of manufactured parts is presented. A series of specimens fabricated at temperatures ranging from 180 to 260 ^∘C were used for this investigation. X-ray computed tomography (CT) was used in order to non-destructively analyze the internal geometry of the specimens especially the bond between extruded filaments. Finally, the specimens were subjected to a uniaxial tensile load for evaluation of mechanical properties. The results showed that the specimens fabricated at lower temperatures have relatively lower tensile strength despite their considerably higher strain at break. In addition, the specimens fabricated at higher temperature range had significantly higher tensile strength because of the better bond between extruded filaments. The different mechanical responses were highly related to the internal geometry of the specimens and not necessarily the porosity. CT showed great potential as a non-destructive tool for investigation and development of FDM process.