Postdoctoral Fellow
BSc (Biotech Engineering | ITESM), MSc (Regenerative Biology and Medicine | TU Dresden), PhD (Otago)
Email cesar.alcala@otago.ac.nz
Cesar Alcala joined the Christchurch Regenerative Medicine and Tissues Engineering (CReaTE) group after completing his PhD with the same group.
Cesar’s expertise lies in nanocomposite biomaterials and their use in biofabrication of 3D-printed tissues.
His current focus is a project using advanced 3D bioprinting/bio-assembly strategies to engineer hybrid constructs for musculoskeletal regeneration, specifically targeting bone and cartilage engineering.
Research interests
- 3D bioprinted scaffolds and novel hydrogel bioinks as platforms for cell encapsulation to generate complex hybrid constructs
- Assessing nanocomposites for their ability to signal cells during tissue development and for biological functionality
- Tissue engineering of skeletal tissues
- Novel biofabrication technologies
Awards
- Molecular Biology Meeting travel award at the Queenstown Research Week (2019)
- ASBTE travel award for the ECR & Strategy Workshop in Sydney (2019)
- International Society of Biofabrication travel award for the International Conference on Biofabrication in Wurzburg (2018)
- University of Otago travel award for the International Conference on Biofabrication in Wurzburg (2018)
- CMDH Researcher award (Second Runner-up) at the MedTech CoRE Conference in Auckland (2017)
Publications
Man, K., Alcala, C., Mekhileri, N. V., Lim, K. S., Jiang, L.-H., Woodfield, T. B. F., & Yang, X. B. (2022). GelMA hydrogel reinforced with 3D printed PEGT/PBT scaffolds for supporting epigenetically-activated human bone marrow stromal cells for bone repair. Journal of Functional Biomaterials, 13, 41. doi: 10.3390/jfb13020041
Cui, X., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Baer, K., Li, J., Murphy, C. A., Durham, M., Lindberg, G., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2022). 3D bioassembly of cell-instructive chondrogenic and osteogenic hydrogel microspheres containing allogeneic stem cells for hybrid biofabrication of osteochondral constructs. Biofabrication, 14(3), 034101. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac61a3
Li, J., Cui, X., Lindberg, G. C. J., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2022). Hybrid fabrication of photo-clickable vascular hydrogels with additive manufactured titanium implants for enhanced osseointegration and vascularized bone formation. Biofabrication, 14(3), 034103. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac6051
Soliman, B. G., Major, G. S., Atienza-Roca, P., Murphy, C. A., Longoni, A., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., … Woodfield, T. B. F., & Lim, K. S. (2022). Development and characterization of gelatin-norbornene bioink to understand the interplay between physical architecture and micro-capillary formation in biofabricated vascularized constructs. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 11(2), 2101873. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202101873
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Mutreja, I., Cui, X., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2022). Hybrid biofabrication of 3D osteoconductive constructs comprising Mg-based nanocomposites and cell-laden bioinks for bone repair. Bone, 154, 116198. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2021.116198
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Mutreja, I., Cui, X., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2022). Hybrid biofabrication of 3D osteoconductive constructs comprising Mg-based nanocomposites and cell-laden bioinks for bone repair. Bone, 154, 116198. doi: 10.1016/j.bone.2021.116198
Journal - Research Article
Cui, X., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Baer, K., Li, J., Murphy, C. A., Durham, M., Lindberg, G., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2022). 3D bioassembly of cell-instructive chondrogenic and osteogenic hydrogel microspheres containing allogeneic stem cells for hybrid biofabrication of osteochondral constructs. Biofabrication, 14(3), 034101. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac61a3
Journal - Research Article
Li, J., Cui, X., Lindberg, G. C. J., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2022). Hybrid fabrication of photo-clickable vascular hydrogels with additive manufactured titanium implants for enhanced osseointegration and vascularized bone formation. Biofabrication, 14(3), 034103. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac6051
Journal - Research Article
Man, K., Alcala, C., Mekhileri, N. V., Lim, K. S., Jiang, L.-H., Woodfield, T. B. F., & Yang, X. B. (2022). GelMA hydrogel reinforced with 3D printed PEGT/PBT scaffolds for supporting epigenetically-activated human bone marrow stromal cells for bone repair. Journal of Functional Biomaterials, 13, 41. doi: 10.3390/jfb13020041
Journal - Research Article
Soliman, B. G., Major, G. S., Atienza-Roca, P., Murphy, C. A., Longoni, A., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., … Woodfield, T. B. F., & Lim, K. S. (2022). Development and characterization of gelatin-norbornene bioink to understand the interplay between physical architecture and micro-capillary formation in biofabricated vascularized constructs. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 11(2), 2101873. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202101873
Journal - Research Article
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Cui, X., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2021). Converging functionality: Strategies for 3D hybrid-construct biofabrication and the role of composite biomaterials for skeletal regeneration. Acta Biomaterialia, 132, 188-216. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2021.03.008
Journal - Research Article
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Mutreja, I., Cui, X., Kumar, D., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2020). Design and characterisation of multi-functional strontium-gelatin nanocomposite bioinks with improved print fidelity and osteogenic capacity. Bioprinting, 18, e00073. doi: 10.1016/j.bprint.2019.e00073
Journal - Research Article
Baptista, M., Jouhkdar, H., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Lau, K., Jiang, S., Cui, X., … Woodfield, T. B. F., Lim, K. S., & Rnjak-Kovacina, J. (2020). Silk fibroin photo-lyogels containing microchannels as a biomaterial platform for in situ tissue engineering. Biomaterials Science, 8, 7093-7105. doi: 10.1039/d0bm01010c
Journal - Research Article
Cui, X., Soliman, B. G., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Li, J., Vis, M. A. M., Santos, M., … Woodfield, T. B. F., … Lim, K. S. (2020). Rapid photocrosslinking of silk hydrogels with high cell density and enhanced shape fidelity. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 9, 1901667. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201901667
Journal - Research Article
Cidonio, G., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Lim, K. S., Glinka, M., Mutreja, I., Kim, Y.-H., … Woodfield, T. B. F., & Oreffo, R. O. C. (2019). Osteogenic and angiogenic tissue formation in high fidelity nanocomposite Laponite-gelatin bioinks. Biofabrication, 11, 035027. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ab19fd
Journal - Research Article
Lim, K. S., Levato, R., Costa, P. F., Castilho, M. D., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., van Dorenmalen, K. M. A., … Hooper, G. J., … Woodfield, T. B. F. (2018). Bio-resin for high resolution lithography-based biofabrication of complex cell laden constructs. Biofabrication, 10, 034101. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/aac00c
Journal - Research Article
Braxton, T., Lim, K., Rnjak-Kovacina, J., Alcala-Orozco, C., Woodfield, T., Jiang, L.-H., … Yang, X. (2021). Characterization of a novel silk reinforced biphasic 3D-printed scaffold for osteochondral tissue regeneration. Orthopaedic Proceedings, 103-B(Suppl. 2), (pp. 4). doi: 10.1302/1358-992x.2021.2.004
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Cui, S., Li, J., Alcala-Orozco, C., Woodfield, T., Rnjak-Kovacina, J., & Lim, K. (2019). Rapid visible light crosslinking of silk hydrogels for cartilage tissue engineering. Proceedings of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) 30th Annual Conference and the German Society for Biomaterials (DGBM) 26th Annual Conference. X-OS19-04. Retrieved from https://www.esb2019.org/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Tang, F., Baptista, M., Lin, X., Jiang, S., Alcala-Orozco, C., Whitelock, J., Lim, K., … Rnjak-Kovacina, J. (2019). Biometric materials toward enhanced bioengineered tissue vascularisation. Proceedings of the European Society for Biomaterials (ESB) 30th Annual Conference and the German Society for Biomaterials (DGBM) 26th Annual Conference. X-OS37-04. Retrieved from https://www.esb2019.org/
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Alcala Orozco, C., Mutreja, I., Lim, K., Hooper, G., & Woodfield, T. (2018). Strontium-based nanocomposite bioinks for improved osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells. Proceedings of the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (ASBTE) 26th Annual Conference. (pp. 53). Retrieved from https://www.asbte.org
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Mutreja, I., Cui, X., Hooper, G. J., Lim, K. S., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2019, April). Strontium-based nanocomposite bioink for 3D bioprinting of high shape-fidelity osteoconductive scaffolds. Poster session presented at the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (ASBTE) Early Career Researcher Workshop, Sydney, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)
Cidonio, G., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Glinka, M., Mutreja, I., Kim, Y., Dawson, J. L., Lim, K. S., Woodfield, T. B. F., & Oreffo, R. O. C. (2018, October). A nanocomposite bioink to sustain human skeletal stem cell viability and drug delivery. Poster session presented at the International Society for Biofabrication Annual Meeting, Würzburg, Germany.
Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Cidonio, G., Lim, K. S., Dawson, J., Oreffo, R. O. C., & Woodfield, T. B. F. (2019, August-September). High fidelity bioprinting of nanocomposite bioinks supporting osteogenic and angiogenic tissue formation. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Molecular Biology (QMB) Meetings, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Lam Po Tang, E. J., Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Nielsen, P. M. F., Taberner, A. J., Woodfield, T. B. F., & Lim, K. S. (2019, August-September). The effects of different buffers on the physico-mechanical properties of gelatin-methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Molecular Biology (QMB) Meetings, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Woodfield, T. B. F., Lim, K. S., Lindberg, G. C. J., Cui, S., Alcala-Orozco, C., & Hooper, G. J. (2019, August-September). Biofabrication of the musculoskeletal tissue niche: Tissue spheroid and bioink platiforms. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Molecular Biology (QMB) Meetings, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Alcala-Orozco, C. R., Mutreja, I., Lim, K. S., Lindberg, G., Hooper, G. J., & Woodfield, T. (2018, October). Strontium-based nanocomposite bioink for 3D-bioprinting of scaffolds with long-term shape retention and improved osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stromal cells. Verbal presentation at the International Society for Biofabrication Annual Meeting, Würzburg, Germany.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
