For diffusion experiments, we filled 0.5 mL Eppendorfs with deuterium oxide (D 2 O) and introduced the scaffold under study in them. Immediately after insertion of the scaffolds, we started the proton MRI imaging sequence to acquire a frame every 3 minutes and 48 seconds for about 4.4 hours for the hydrogel (Fig. ) and 1.9 hours for the cryogel (Fig. ). We then manually defined the scaffold and the Eppendorfs regions of interest (ROIs).