Can a natural bioactive molecule become an integral part of the 3D microfabrication process itself?

In this work, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, we demonstrate a one-step multiphoton lithography strategy in which curcumin serves not only as a photosensitizer for the fabrication of high-resolution GelMA 3D scaffolds, but also as a bioactive component that endows the resulting structures with advanced functional properties.

The resulting microarchitectures combine precise 3D structuring and cell compatibility with the intrinsic antibacterial and antifouling properties of curcumin.

This approach enables bioactivity to be incorporated directly during the fabrication process, opening new possibilities for advanced biomaterials and tissue engineering applications.

The work was carried out at the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL), Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (FORTH), by the TERMIm Lab, led by Dr. Anthi Ranella and the NLL Group, led by Dr. Maria Farsari, in collaboration with the group of Prof. Anna Mitraki at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Crete. Anna Mitraki is also a collaborating faculty member of IESL. The first author is PhD candidate Myrto Charitaki.

Reference: Charitaki, M., Stavrou, M., Apostolidou, C. P., Kabouraki, E., Gray, D., Mitraki, A., ... & Farsari, M. (2026). One‐Step Curcumin‐Mediated Multiphoton Lithography for Bioactive 3D Scaffolds. Advanced Functional Materials, e77532. doi:  https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.77532