For healing of bone defects and as matrix for tissues engineering, porous scaffolds are required that can be easily pre-seeded with cells in the lab and invaded by tissue after implantation. We have developed porous 3D scaffolds consisting of mineralised collagen type I-a nanocomposite, which mimics the composition of extracellular matrix of healthy bone tissue. The steps of material processing as well as the physico-chemical, structural and mechanical properties of this biomaterial are described in detail. The technology of differential scanning calorimetry, which provides an excellent possibility to investigate collagen-based materials, was used to characterise the final scaffold and all its intermediates in situ. Furthermore, the interconnecting porosity of the scaffolds with pore diameters of about 200 mu m has been shown to be highly suitable for homogenous cell seeding, demonstrated with human marrow stromal cells. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.