LAUSR

Extracellular matrix and protein‐based biomaterials emerge as attractive sources to produce scaffolds due to their great properties regarding biocompatibility and bioactivity. In addition, there are concerns regarding the use of animal‐derived supplements in cell culture not only due to the risk of transmission of xenogeneic contaminants and antigens but also due to ethical issues associated with collection methods. Herein, a novel human protein‐derived porous scaffold produced from platelet lysates (PL) as platform for xeno‐free 3D cell culture has been proposed. Human PL are chemically modified with methacryloyl groups (PLMA) to make them photocrosslinkable and used as precursor material to produce PLMA‐based sponges. The herein reported human‐based sponges have highly tunable morphology and mechanical properties, with an internal porous structure and Young's modulus dependent on the concentration of the polymer. Human adipose‐derived stem cells (hASCs) are cultured on top of PLMA sponges to validate their use for 3D cell culture in xeno‐free conditions. After 14 days hASCs remained viable, and results show that cells are able to proliferate during time even in the absence of animal‐derived supplementation. This study reveals for the first time that such scaffolds can be promising platforms for culture of human cells avoiding the use of any animal‐derived supplement.