Invalidity dossier
US 7174282
Design methodology for tissue engineering scaffolds and biomaterial implants
Current assignee: Individual
Added 9/24/2026, 1:07:11 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 7,174,282 B2
Title: Design methodology for tissue engineering scaffolds and biomaterial implants
Patent number / application: US 7,174,282 B2 (application US 10/178,419; pre-grant publication US 2003/0069718 A1)
Inventors: Scott J. Hollister, Gabriel Tien-Min Chu, Juan M. Taboas
Assignee: Listed as "Individual" (original assignee: Individual). No corporate assignee appears in the supplied text.
Key dates: Priority date 2001-06-22; filing date 2002-06-24; publication date 2007-02-06; adjusted expiration 2024-09-27 (status: expired – lifetime).
Purpose: The invention addresses design of biomaterial scaffolds, biomaterial implants, gene therapy delivery systems, in vitro tissue testing systems, bioreactors, and drug delivery/testing systems. The text states that prior approaches either matched elastic properties without enabling optimal microstructures in anatomical shape, or used CT data for customized implants without a specific method for designing the implant interior.
Plain-language scope: The described methodology combines image-based design of pore structures with homogenization theory to compute how effective physical properties depend on material microstructure, then applies optimization to compute optimal pore geometry. The process: (1) create unit cell voxel databases over design parameters; (2) solve homogenization equations for each unit cell to calculate effective physical properties of scaffold and of tissue growing into pores; (3) formulate and solve optimization of unit cell parameters; (4) combine the optimized voxel topology with a voxel dataset of anatomic shape, using density variations as a map for substituting optimized topologies; (5) convert the result automatically to surface or wireframe representation for solid free form fabrication or casting (via marching cubes/marching squares). The stated aim is that scaffold and regenerating tissue match natural tissue properties, with a fixed lower bound on porosity and permeability. Figures show a porous unit cell, a Boolean combination for a mandibular condyle, modulus correlation graphs, and .stl/.slf outputs.
Not established by the excerpt: Claims, full specification, exact optimization algorithms, materials, experimental results, and any litigation, ownership transfer, validity, or prior-art analysis. The excerpt is partial.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:31:35 PM
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