Mikos, Antonios G2025-05-302025-052025-04-25May 2025https://hdl.handle.net/1911/118535Additive manufacturing enables spatial control over bioactive molecules and cells to mimic native tissue architecture, but a lack of bioinks that balance biological relevance and printability limits its potential. Decellularized extracellular matrix retains native biochemical cues but suffers from poor mechanical stability, restricting its use in 3D printing. This work presents the development of composite colloidal inks using methacryloylated decellularized cartilage extracellular matrix nanoparticles blending with gelatin nanoparticles to improve both printability and biofunctionality. The resulting inks are shear-thinning, self healing, and UVcrosslinkable, enabling the fabrication of tunable 3D-printing scaffolds. These scaffolds supported human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell chondrogenesis, evidenced by enhanced collagen deposition, upregulation of chondrogenic gene expression, and suppression of osteogenic markers expression without exogenous differentiation factors. This study also explored the use of machine learning approaches to predict the print quality of 3D printed poly(propylene fumarate) and to identify relationships between printing parameters and the print quality. Print speed and material composition had the greatest effect on scaffold quality. Additionally, this work examined printing consistency with colloidal inks. Unlike poly(propylene fumarate), the colloidal inks required real-time parameter adjustments to maintain print fidelity, likely due to pressure-induced phase separation. Overall, this research introduces a novel, biologically active, and customizable colloidal ink platform for cartilage tissue engineering and broadens understanding of print behavior in colloidal systems.application/pdfendECMCollodial inksmachine learning3D printingThesis2025-05-30