Herein we report an innovative use of 3D printing technology to create gelatin hydrogel scaffolds with functionalised sugar-sensing molecules. We integrated a gelatin hydrogel polymer with sugar sensing molecules, which can then be 3D printed. The sugar sensing molecules fluoresce in the presence of sugars in physiologically relevant concentration ranges (up to 40 mM), and as the concentrations of glucose or fructose (another sugar molecule) increases, the fluorescence emission also increases, up to concentrations of 100 mM. The added value our work brings, is that by adding certain molecules into these scaffolds, by functionalising them, we can potentially create scaffolds that grow cells, and also sense and report on the environment of the cell.
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