The results of FTIR studies (Section 3.3) and biological stability test (Section 3.4) suggest that glucose is an effective cross-linking agent for thermal cross-linking of gelatin scaffolds. In addition to being nontoxic, it also reacts and polymerizes readily at high temperatures. Therefore, it is not necessary to clean the scaffold of residual cross-linking agent, although pre-treatment of scaffolds is necessary due to swelling