Figure 1.

Schematic of the rotating electrode electrochemical alignment device (a). The main parts of the device are: power supply for providing voltage for the electrochemical cell, the syringe pump, rotating electrodes wheel and collection spool. Compensated polarized image in the top left inset demonstrates the collagen molecules to be aligned parallel to the longer axis of the thread as manifested by the blue color. Closely packed and aligned topography of the fiber surface is evident from the electron microscopy image. (b) Collagen fiber made by REEAD, (c) yarn made by twisting three collagen threads, (d) pin-setup for weaving the collagen scaffold, (e) the resulting woven collagen scaffold, (f) and two scaffolds to demonstrate the consistency of fabrication.