biomaterials Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

Marine Biologist Modifies Bioprinting for the Creation of Bionic Coral

Corals are dying globally. In the face of climate change and global warming, we can expect some severe consequences, which in turn directly affects marine life. In what is panning out to be a mass extinction event, coral reefs have been dangerously threatened by toxic substances and excess carbon dioxide for years, causing the certain death of may of these diverse marine invertebrates. Once the coral is dead, the reefs will also die and erode, destroying important marine life, that would otherwise feed and spawn on it.

Considering that scientists have predicted that nearly all coral reefs will disappear in 20 years, it is crucial that we protect corals and learn from them. For the expanding field of biotechnology, untapped resources like corals hold great potential, as bioactive compounds for cancer research or simply as an inspiration for the production of bioenergy and bioproducts.

In an interview with 3DPrint.com, interdisciplinary marine biologist Daniel Wangpraseurt, from the University of California San Diego (UCSD)’s Department of NanoEngineering, explained how bioprinting technology was a pivotal point in his work to develop bionic 3D printed corals as a new tool for coral-inspired biomaterials that can be used in algal biotechnology, coral reef conservation and in coral-algal symbiosis research.

“For many years I have been studying how corals optimize light management and discovered that there are lots of interesting evolutionary tricks, such as different growth forms and material properties, so I became interested in copying these strategies and developing artificial materials that could host living microalgae, just like corals do in nature,” revealed Wangpraseurt.

Daniel Wangpraseurt

As one of the most productive ecosystems globally, coral reefs use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into energy that they in turn use for food. Even though light provides the energy that fuels reef productivity, key nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are also required, but are found in very low quantities in warm tropical oceans where coral reefs are generally found, making scientists wonder how these marine animals have managed to create a competitive habitat with such limited resources.

A laser beam is intensely scattered by elastic coral tissue and aragonite skeleton. (Credit: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

Wangpraseurt described that, while different corals have developed a plethora of geometries to achieve such capabilities, they are all characterized by an animal tissue-hosting microalgae, built upon a calcium carbonate skeleton that serves as mechanical support and as a scattering medium to optimize light delivery toward otherwise shaded algal-containing tissues.

“Taking what we learned about corals and biomaterials, we began working on a project to develop a synthetic, symbiotic system using a 3D bioprinting approach. We know corals have both animal cells and algal cells, and, so far, we have mimicked the animal part of the corals, that is, the physical and chemical microhabitat that partially controls the activity of the algal cells.”

At UCSD, Wangpraseurt expects to continue recreating coral-inspired photosynthetic biomaterial structures using a new bioprinting technique and a customized 3D bioprinter capable of mimicking functional and structural traits of the coral-algal symbiosis. Along with fellow researchers from UCSD, the University of Cambridge, the University of Copenhagen and the University of Technology Sydney, and thanks to a grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the team reported the results of their work on bioinspired materials that was published in the journal Nature Communications earlier this year.

“We want to go further and not just develop similar physical microhabitat but also modulate cellular interactions, by mimicking biochemical pathways of symbiosis. We hope that this allows us to not only optimize photosynthesis and cell growth, but also to gain a deeper understanding of how the symbiosis works in nature. By doing so, we can improve our understanding of stress phenomena such as coral bleaching, which is largely responsible for global coral death.”

Living colonies of Symbiodinium are visible within the 3D bioprinted tissues (Credit: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

So, how did bioprinters become the go-to technology for this project? Wangpraseurt explains that, while working as a researcher at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry Bio-Inspired Photonics lab, he noticed that scientists were using cellulose as a biomaterial with interesting optical responses. He was wondering how he could use cellulose to develop a material with very defined architectural complexity.

“In the beginning, the main aim was to develop a coral-inspired biomaterial, that has a similar optical response as natural coral, and then to grow algae on it or within it. Thereby, we started off with simple techniques, using conventional 3D printers; however, it wasn’t very easy to recreate the spatial resolution we needed for corals.”

Inspired by 3D bioprinting research in the medical sciences, Wangpraseurt reached out to scientists at the UCSD NanoEngineering lab that were developing artificial liver models, and who later became collaborators in the project.

A laser beam is intensely scattered by elastic coral tissue and aragonite skeleton (Credit: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

The team went on to develop a 3D printing platform that mimics morphological features of living coral tissue and the underlying skeleton with micron resolution, including their optical and mechanical properties. It uses a two-step continuous light projection-based approach for multilayer 3D bioprinting and the artificial coral tissue constructs are fabricated with a novel bioink solution, in which the symbiotic microalgae are mixed with a photopolymerizable gelatin-methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogel and cellulose-derived nanocrystals (CNC). Similarly, the artificial skeleton is 3D printed with a polyethylene glycol diacrylate-based polymer (PEGDA).

Close up of coral polyps and living photosynthetic biomaterials. Living colonies of Symbiodinium are visible within the 3D bioprinted tissues (Credit: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

Based in San Diego, Wangpraseurt has spent months trying to recreate the intricate structure of the corals with a distinguished symbiotic system that is known to grow as it creates one of the largest ecosystems on the planet.

“We used a 3D bioprinter that had been developed for medical purposes, which we modulated and further developed a specific bioink for corals. A lot of the work was related to the optimization of the material properties to ensure cell viability. Having the right bioink for our algal strains was crucial as if we were to use mixtures commonly used for human cell cultures, the cells will not grow very well and can die rapidly.”

The implications of the newly developed 3D printed bionic corals capable of growing microalgae are many. Wangpraseurt said he plans to continue working on bionic corals and potentially scale up the process for his startup, called mantaz, as well as for commercial properties; or to develop coral-inspired materials at a larger scale to have a more immediate impact on efforts related to coral reef restoration, and also for biotechnology.

SEM images of the skeleton structure of the coral Stylophora pistillata and the coral-inspired, 3D-printed material (Credit: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

Wangpraseurt is looking to scale the bioprinting system to have a more immediate impact on algae biotechnology, bioenergy, and bioproducts. He claims that he and his colleagues can “customize the environment of the algae and fine-tune the production of a certain bioproduct to potentially tap into the algae bioproduct market and scale the system for bioenergy production.”

“Another interest of mine is to further develop a 3D bioprinted synthetic coral-algal symbiosis system, which can provide important insight into the mechanisms that lead to coral death, but can also result in the development of future technology for coral reef restoration.”

The researcher talks about coral reefs with a reverent passion that today goes beyond his lab work. When he is not moving the research along at USCD, Wangpraseurt is working with his social enterprise in Panama, as he and his team try to restore coral reef ecosystems to help coastal communities in the tropics, including local fishermen, by harvesting algae biomass that can be sold for different purposes, such as natural fertilizer, which contributes to an organic and sustainable chain of production. Furthermore, the coral-inspired aspects of Wangpraseurt’s research and startup company are really coalescing to enable him and his team to understand how corals work and, in turn, how we can learn from them for the benefit of our planet.

Nutrient sampling at a polluted reef in Panama (Image: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

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Fabricating Bionic Corals Could Improve Bioenergy and Coral Reefs

Replicating structures with live cells have the potential to create environments to study processes and cell development that could become very beneficial to scientists and one of Earth’s largest ecosystems, coral reefs. These structures are complex and interesting for researchers, most reef-building corals have a mutualistic relationship with the algae that live in their tissues. The coral provides the algae with a protected environment and compounds they need for photosynthesis and in return, the algae produce oxygen and supply the coral with glucose, glycerol, and amino acids, which are the products of photosynthesis. The coral uses these products to make proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and produce calcium carbonate.

This intricate relationship between coral and algae, that began 160 million years ago, can enlighten researchers that seek to provide a source of bioenergy and bioproduct generation. Earlier this month, a group of researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of California San Diego has developed bionic 3D printed corals as a new tool for coral inspired biomaterials that can find use in algal biotechnology, coral reef conservation and in coral-algal symbiosis research.

The coral-inspired photosynthetic biomaterial structures were fabricated using a rapid 3D bioprinting technique capable of mimicking functional and structural traits of the coral-algal symbiosis and their results were reported in the journal Nature Communications, opening a new door to bioinspired materials and their applications for coral conservation.

The first author of the paper and a Marie Curie Fellow from Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry, Daniel Wangpraseurt, indicated that “corals are highly efficient at collecting and using light, in our lab, we’re looking for methods to copy and mimic these strategies from nature for commercial applications.”

Wangpraseurt along with his colleagues have found a way to 3D print coral structures and use them as incubators for algae growth. They claim to have tested various types of microalgae and found that growth rates were one hundred times higher than in standard liquid growth mediums.

To create the intricate structures of natural corals, the researchers have developed a bioprinting platform capable of reproducing detailed structures that mimic the complex designs and functions of living tissues, like the photosynthetic matter mimicking coral tissue and skeleton source geometries. This method can print structures with micrometer-scale resolution in just minutes.

To scan living corals and use the models for their 3D printed designs, the team used an imaging technique that uses low-coherence light to capture micrometer-resolution called an optical coherence tomography (OCT), that is usually used for medical imaging and industrial nondestructive testing. The OCT data were imported into MATLAB and converted so that the images could be sliced into 2D image sequences for bioprinting.

The bioink for the hybrid living bionic coral constructs capable of cultivating high algal cell densities was made up of final concentrations of a green microalga; a combination of polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) with gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) to make a mechanically robust and tunable hydrogel; the photoinitiator lithium phenyl-trimethyl-benzoyl phosphinate (LAP); a food dye; cellulose-derived nanocrystals (CNC), and artificial seawater.

“We developed an artificial coral tissue and skeleton with a combination of polymer gels and hydrogels doped with cellulose nanomaterials to mimic the optical properties of living corals,” stated co-senior author Silvia Vignolini, also from Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry. “Cellulose is an abundant biopolymer; it is excellent at scattering light and we used it to optimise delivery of light into photosynthetic algae.”

The final bionic coral was designed in CAD software and was then sliced into hundreds of digital patterns with a custom-written MATLAB program. The digital patterns were uploaded to a digital micromirror device (DMD) in sequential order and used to selectively expose the prepolymer solution for continuous printing.

The custom-made 3D bioprinter uses light to print coral microscale structures in seconds. So that the printed coral copies natural coral structures and light-harvesting properties, create an artificial host-microenvironment for the living microalgae.

Chlorophyll fluorescence of bionic tentacles (Credit: Daniel Wangpraseurt)

Cambridge University suggested that the coral-inspired structures were highly efficient at redistributing light, just like natural corals, since only biocompatible materials were used to fabricate the 3D printed bionic corals.

This is critical for replicating structures with live cells, said co-senior author Shaochen Chen, also a professor from UC San Diego. “Most of these cells will die if we were to use traditional extrusion-based or inkjet processes because these methods take hours. It would be like keeping a fish out of the water; the cells that we work with won’t survive if kept too long out of their culture media. Our process is high throughput and offers really fast printing speeds, so it’s compatible with human cells, animal cells, and even algae cells in this case,” he went on.

The technique allows replication of any coral architecture, providing a variety of design solutions for augmenting light propagation. The team of researchers claims that their work “defines a class of bionic materials that is capable of interacting with living organisms and can be exploited for applied coral reef research and photobioreactor design.”

Wangpraseurt explained that “by copying the host microhabitat, we can also use our 3D bioprinted corals as a model system for the coral-algal symbiosis, which is urgently needed to understand the breakdown of the symbiosis during coral reef decline.”

Undoubtedly, the decline of coral reefs has been well documented and is a great concern to conservationists and should be a pressing matter for society at large. A 2017 study by UNESCO claims that the world’s coral reefs, from the Great Barrier Reef off Australia to Seychelles off East Africa, are in grave danger of dying out completely by mid-century unless carbon emissions are reduced enough to slow ocean warming.

As part of a growing concern to aid this fragile underwater ecosystem, Wangpraseurt, along with other colleagues has created a company, called mantaz, that uses coral-inspired light-harvesting approaches to cultivate algae for bioproducts in developing countries, as well as restore coral reefs with the help of local fishermen.

A colony of the coral Stylophora pistilla growing on Watakobi Reef, East Sulawesi, Indonesia (Credit: University of Cambridge)

“We hope that our technique will be scalable so it can have a real impact on the algal biosector and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for coral reef death,”

The study, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, as well as the European Research Council, the David Phillips Fellowship, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation, and the Villum Foundation, appears promising. By mimicking the coral’s light management strategies and designing a bionic coral made out of sustainable polymers for enhanced microalgal light absorption and growth, they were able to define a class of bionic materials that is capable of interacting with living organisms and can be exploited for coral reef research and energy production.

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Exclusive Interview: Chitonous Hopes to Use Ubiquitous Biological Polymers for Manufacturing

I can’t remember when a startup so excited me as Chitonous does. This one is a long shot but it could fundamentally change how we design and consume materials for manufacturing. Rather than create new exotic bioplastics and recycling systems for them, Chitonous wants to let us use abundant materials in nature to 3D print the future. By using low cost locally available and locally produced materials the firm wants to create a new local-centric environmentally friendly manufacturing paradigm. By emphasizing locally created natural materials that work in conjunction with the natural world they may just have come up with a more efficient way for us to manufacturing. Its an incredibly ambitious plan but the Phd heavy team has the scientific chops to back it up and for years now has been working on making working 3D printing materials from natural sources. I love Chitonous’ ambition, concept and technology and so we interviewed their charismatic CEO Javier G. Fernandez. Javier leads the Singapore based startup but is also an assistant professor at Singapore University of Technology. Previously he was a research fellow at Harvard, at the Wyss Institute and at MIT. Javier has a Phd in Nanobiotechnology and Masters in both Physics and Nanotechnology.

What is Chitonous?

Chitonous (pronounced kait-o-nous) is a company focused on large scale production of bioinspired materials and manufacturing technologies. Its leading technology FLAM 3D, is based on the two most ubiquitous biological polymers on earth and enables the rapid production of objects of scales ranging from half millimeter to several meters. The uniqueness of this technology respect other so-called biodegradable materials is that the biological molecules are never chemically modified but “arranged” in the same configuration they evolved to follow in natural systems. As a result we are able to replicate the outstanding properties of biological materials while they keep seamless ecological integration. This is the only free form technology fully integrated in ALL the ecological cycles of earth, without the need of human intervention or recovery.

What materials do you use?

The main components we use are cellulose (the most abundant and broadly distributed biological molecule) and chitin (the most abundant one). To give a magnitude of what ubiquitous means in terms of natural molecules: Earth naturally produces in one year the amount of chitin to supply more than 300 years of plastic production at the current rate. And all this material is produced and degraded in continuous cycle everywhere in the world, from insects and crustaceans, to fungi and even recently has been discovered in fish.

Why those materials?

Because the are the two most abundant and broadly distributed. If you combine a freeform technology (such as 3D printing) with materials that are everywhere in the world, you are setting the ground for a paradigm shift, where the need of transport materials and products completely disappear. We can fabricate anything anywhere. Our technology has been called “the missing piece for circular economy” for a good reason. We are going much beyond the current concept of circular economy, by introducing a generalizable technology to develop regional circular economies, where materials and products are obtained, manufactured, and degraded in closed regional areas, with minimal transport. And everything seamlessly integrated in the ecology of the region. The fact that these two main ingredients are produced by such disparate organism and are abundant in every ecosystem enable for first time to match general manufacture to the surrounding ecosystem.

How does it work?

We have developed our technology following the concepts of structural biological materials. Nature is able to produce extraordinary materials; the strength of spider silk, the impact resistance of nacre or the lightness/vibration absorption of balsa wood are outstanding compared to the best performing synthetic counterparts. However what is even more extraordinary is the conditions in which those materials are produced. Nature doesn’t have the luxury to use very rare ingredients, to move components all around the world, or to use enormous sources of energy as we do with plastics and metals. Biological systems use the most abundant components, most of them with negligible mechanical properties, and almost no energy to produce these mechanically outstanding materials. The trick of nature is the complex designs in which those components are arranged in what is called a hierarchical designs.

In 2012 we demonstrated for first time that linking natural molecules with the design they evolved to follow enables the reproduction of those extraordinary mechanical properties for engineering applications. That first material, named Shrilk, supposed a change of paradigm. It not only gave the key to a new family of materials for manufacture, it also set the ground for the development of technologies fully integrated in the ecology of earth. 3 years later we developed the general application of that material, called Fungus Like Adhesive Materials (FLAMs).

FLAMS are developed as a technology for manufacture and a material, in parallel. They can be molded, 3D printed or processed as if they were wood (sanding, drilling, carved…). One of our first demonstration was the 3D printing of a 1.2m wind turbine blade, which was produced entirely with FLAM using a combination of traditional and new techniques. A year later we produced the Hydra, a 5m tall structure that to date is the largest biological object ever printed in the whole world.

What kinds of things can you make with your materials?

We currently are printing -using the same system and material- objects ranging from 0.5mm to 5 meters. It is important to note that this technology has been fully developed in the last 2.5 years, from scratch, and currently we can look in the eye to the most advanced systems for additive manufacture with synthetic polymers. Theoretically we don’t have any limit, those are the limits we have explored due to the applications we are considering. In the future we will broad them if we find any application needing better resolution or larger scale.

What do you hope to achieve in five years?

Chitonous has been born to change the world, and finally all the pieces are in place. We are the only company and technology that can look in the eye to the current paradigm centered in plastic manufacture in terms of cost, versatility and scalability, and we are fully integrated in the ecology of earth, which means not only a revolution on the transport of objects and materials, but also on the cost of waste management for companies and municipalities. We are collaborating with some of the largest companies in the world in fields form automotive, to oil and gas, to electronics. What is very important to remark is that most of these agreements have been motivated by the possibilities that our technology enables in their respective fields and not because the enviromental benefits. We believe this is important because we expect our approach to revolutionize the society and the economy as stone, bronze, iron or plastic did in the past: the appearing of a new material that enables a qualitative leap on the technological development, resulting on a change on the society and the economy. And in this case a development around bioinspired manufacture involves the transition to a sustainable society.

Whats the difference between your materials and PLA for example?

PLA, as most so-called biodegradable plastics are based on the paradigm imposed by plastic manufacture. While they are from biological origin, the need to transform them into a material that can be directly introduced in the existing manufacturing technology, result in a material that diverges form the natural origin. As a result, every step on the modification of the material to make it similar to the synthetic polymers is a step away from nature. The result is a material that, while started being natural, transformed in something easy to manufacture but that nature can’t understand. In the case of PLA degradation only happen in very specific conditions of temperature and microorganisms, therefore it needs to be recover and brought to a specialized facility to be degraded. This is something generally misunderstood by most people, who believe that a piece of PLA in your backyard will compost naturally. Actually PLA will last in the environment a time similar to many “non-biodegradable” synthetic plastics. Actually in many application, if recovery is ensured, actually other plastics with less carbon foot print might be a greener choice. The important aspect here is the recovery, which is the problem of plastic. Recovery is not happening, it is the highest expense of municipalities all around the world, and is becoming even more unaffordable as our waste becomes more complex and abundant.

Our concept is the opposite. Nature only understand natural materials, therefore the solution to our unsustainable development won’t come from the invention of a new material, but from the control of biological materials that have been around for millions of years. In our approach we never change the natural molecule, the planet is full of examples of biological materials with enormous potential for engineering, so we don’t need new ones, we need to be able to use them as nature does. We first understand how nature fabricates and then we replicate those materials with the same components. We cant rely on exiting technology, but to develop technology with the principles of biology. The result are materials that are perfectly integrated in the ecology of earth and are produced and degraded without the need of human intervention (i.e. no recovery is needed). We are just including a new step in the life of a material, between its natural synthesis and degradation, by transforming it in an object.

So we could just leave parts made with your materials in nature?

Technically we are not “leaving” them in nature since they never left. But yes, since we never modified the biological molecules, these objects are part of nature, so in the eyes of nature they are no different to a piece of wood. Human intervention is completely unnecessary, they will fully degrade and integrate in every ecosystem of earth, without the need to recover or treat them.

Are they all compostable?

100% in the full sense of that word. Where you see a lot of different 3D printed objects, nature sees a mushroom.

How do you obtain your materials?

We currently are obtaining them as raw materials (cellulose from green plants and chitin from fishing industry) or from urban waste (food and paper waste).

What types of applications do you see?

Our current material is similar to a (very) high density polyurethane foam, and ideal to make large objects. We have chosen to move first into that area because synthetic polymers struggle to fill that space, while we don’t have any limitation of size and our cost is 20 times cheaper. We present an enormous opportunity for manufacturers of objects of a few meters, such as car parts, furniture, construction, or machinery. The objective is to expand to general scope in the next few years.

What are the limitations?

We are a new technology and as such largely misunderstood. For most of the people is hard to believe that we have a technology that can look in the eye to plastic manufacture and at the same time be fully sustainable, to the point that can trigger a paradigm shift in the whole manufacturing ecosystem. For everybody these doubts end once they touch the material and test its properties.

What would the costs per kilo be?

The current cost of FLAM is 1.6 $/Kg, but we expect this cost to drop significantly when we remove transportation from the equation. That cost is similar to commodity plastics, but is 10-20 times cheaper than the plastic filament. Just analyze that sentence: we just made 3D printing 10 to 20 times cheaper. This is the first technology in the history of humanity that can look in the eye to plastic manufacture in terms of cost, versatility and scalability. And it is fully integrated in the ecology of earth.

What kinds of partners do you seek?

At this point most our conversations are with big companies that see in our technology an enabling technology to transform and bring their business to a new level. We got a lot of requests from people with interest in substituting non sustainable materials in niche applications. Unfortunately our objective right now is to engage with major partners that can help to scale the technology as fast as possible. We are already have the first pilot plant in the works, so we are looking for investors that understand and resonate with our vision, to tackle the problem of sustainability offering a new paradigm in manufacture, and enabling the transition to sustainable societies and economies as a result of our transition to a new technological age based on biological materials and technologies.

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Researchers Create 3D Printed Bacterial Cellulose Material for Wound Healing

When it comes to medical applications, we’ve seen 3D printing used in the past for healing and repairing wounds, whether through the use of 3D printed bandages, 3D printed blood platelets, or bio-based materials, like nanocellulose. Researchers Dr. Mohamed M. Kanjou, Hassan Abdulhakim, Gabriel Molina de Olyveira, and Pierre Basmaji published a paper, titled “3-D Print Celulose Nanoskin: Future Diabetic Wound Healing,” about using bacterial cellulose for the purposes of wound healing.

“Most 3D printers use heat to melt the plastic or metal to be printed, and biobased materials are degraded,” the team wrote. “But cellulose nanofibrils have a solution to this problem: the printing paste is wet and dries out to a solid material. In this work, it was showed recent wound healing in Vinous Ulcer with kidney and other health complications using bacterial cellulose 3D print membranes.”

[Image: American Process Inc.]

Cellulose nanofibrils, also known as nanocellulose, are made from wood or bacteria, and are the smallest fibers into which cellulose can be decomposed. They can contain up to 50% water, and this viscosity makes it ideal for a 3D printing paste, which can produce strong, biodegradable materials once they’ve dried out. By manipulating the cross-links between the fibrils, the properties can be modified, which allows for the fabrication of strong, porous, and flexible structures.

“Nanocellulose increases the opportunities for creating new materials in wound healing therapy. But this development still requires moisture tests to develops 3D printing with cellulose nanofibrils for medical and biotechnology applications,” the researchers explained.

“Several articles were published by our group since 2015 using Nanoskin membranes for wound healing treatment with successful results in diabetic ulcers, car and other accidents, amputation required ulcers [4] [5] [6]. In this work, it was showed recent wound healing in Vinous Ulcer with kidney and other health complications using bacterial cellulose 3D print.”

Wound healing treated with 3D bacterial cellulose-biological wound dressing (a); developed membrane (b) and Nanoskin developed equipament (c).

This time, the team explored a novel biomaterial and prepared a variety of different bacterial cellulose nanocomposites, such as BC/chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid cross linked with sodium alginate and calcium chloride. They also synthesized bacterial cellulose and bacterial cellulose/chondroitin sulfate/hyaluronic acid.

“The acetic fermentation process was achieved by using glucose as a carbohydrate source,” the researchers explained. “Results of this process were vinegar and a nanobiocellulose biomass. The modifying process was based on the addition of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate (1% w/w) to the culture medium before bacteria inoculation. Bacterial cellulose (BC) was produced by Gram-negative bacteria Gluconacetobacter xylinus, which could be obtained from the culture medium in the pure 3-D structure, consisting of an ultra fine network of cellulose nanofibers.”

Dr. Kanjou and Abdulhakim supervised the completion of an in vivo analysis – the model was a 60-year-old patient diagnosed with a diabetic foot wound.

Here’s your warning – more icky wound pictures are coming.

Wound healing evolution in 1 month and 3D bacterial cellulose impact use with biological wound dressing.

When the patient, also suffering from kidney failure, arrived at Sheikh Khalifa Hospital, the wound was infected and had accumulated a lot of slough tissue. A classic silver dressing did not show any progress, so the researchers began treating the patient’s wound with 3D printed bacterial cellulose membranes.

For one month, the 3D printed bacterial cellulose material was used on alternating days, to some excellent results – the edge and bottom of the wound were starting to heal, and the wound area was reduced.

Additionally, the slough tissue was easy to remove, and healthy red granulation tissue was starting to grow, which you can see in the below image.

Wound healing evolution in 2 months, 3D print Bacterial cellulose impact use in biological wound dressing.

“Then, after more 1 month, almost all slough tissue is removed by treating with 3-D print Bacterial cellulose only; granulation and building up of healthy tissue is coming up with approximation of skin and the wound is closing,” the researchers wrote.

“Finally, after 4 months of treatment, there is complete healing with minimizing the scar in wound area and able to decrease with time.”

Figure 4. Complete wound healing evolution in 4 months and impact use of biological wound dressing 3D print of bacterial cellulose.

The researchers were able to successfully modify bacterial cellulose by “changing the fermentation medium with hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, besides of crosslinked with alginate sodium and calcium chloride.” In so doing, they were able to fabricate promising 3D printed scaffolds out of the bio-based material. In addition, the team developed new equipment for carrying out its work.

“In conclusion, 3-D print bacterial cellulose membranes apply to diabetic ulcers, with significant lesions and wound healing requirement; furthermore, natural membranes applications are for all population with different age.”

Discuss this research and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

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REGEMAT 3D Will Start Selling Biomaterials

One of the key players in the bioprinting field in Spain will be incorporating seven new biomaterials. In the coming months, REGEMAT 3D will launch a catalog of biomaterials that customers can buy and use along with their bioprinting systems. According to company officials, in recent years, advances in 3D bioprinting systems have become very important, as well as new biomaterials for regenerative medicine. The performance of the research groups with which they collaborate has produced results that were likely unheard of years ago. Still, they consider that these innovations in bioprinting systems must be accompanied by a progressive definition and characterization of the biomaterials being used. This year, one of REGEMAT 3D’s objective is to advance biomaterials for further research in the different applications derived from the 3D bioprinting sector, which is growing every year.

REGEMAT 3D bioprinting with new biomaterials

Each specific application requires different solutions and appropriate biomaterials to optimize processes. For instance, it is easy to understand that to regenerate skin components, hydrogels, cells and growth factors are different from those needed to regenerate muscle tissue, bone or cornea. So, it is essential to offer researchers and scientists different biomaterials to aid their work. REGEMAT is focusing on seven: thermoplastics, collagens, alginates, agaroses, gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA), nanocellulose, and different types of cell media compatible with the cells used. All of the biomaterials should be easy to print, handle and will allow researchers to tackle some of the challenges they face while working.

The new biomaterials for 3D bioprinting will be available on the company’s web page (which they will relaunch shortly), as well as through their offices. REGEMAT 3D has agreements with several national and international partners for the manufacture of these products. The first ones to be sold commercially will be nanocellulose, collagen, and alginate.

REGEMAT 3D new biomaterials

The Granada, Spain-based biotech company has sold its machines to users in more than 25 countries. For years, the company has been working with research groups at the University of Granada in advanced therapies, participated in a joint project for the development of new therapies for cartilage regeneration, and has collaborated with the University Hospital of La Paz, where REGEMAT 3D’s founder coordinates the 3D Tissue Engineering and Printing Platform (PITI3D), which provides ingredients and processes to generate functional tissues. Since its origin, the startup has been focusing on regenerative medicine, developing custom hardware and software required and demanded by some of the major hospitals and research universities in the region. They develop their own bioprinting systems – the BIO V1 machines – and customize them for their users’ applications according to the requirements of each investigation.

Last January, a group of researchers led by the University of Granada and REGEMAT 3D, published an academic article on the development of a volume-by-volume 3D biofabrication process that divides the printed part into different volumes and injects the cells after each volume has been printed, once the temperature of the printed thermoplastic fibers has decreased. This helps overcome problems that arise when working in 3D bioprinting with thermoplastics at high temperatures: one of the biomaterials they will soon begin commercializing, with which the company is very familiar and has worked with for a long time.

To continue developing new biomaterials and launching new products, the Spanish company, led by founder and CEO José Manuel Baena, has managed to raise 320,000 Euros in the midst of the latest financing round. REGEMAT 3D, along with its sister company Breca, are not only launching the new series of biomaterials, but they are also expanding their presence to Brazil, where the company has already started to market its products, and China, where they closed an agreement with Chinese distributor ApgBio, based in Shanghai, that’s responsible for introducing bioprinting equipment in the country for the regeneration of organs or tissues. Companies like REGEMAT 3D are gearing up to mass produce biomaterials, providing researchers with more options when it comes to bioprinting for regenerative medicine and advanced therapies, usually keeping in mind how patients bodies will react to the new materials, and whether they will be compatible. Spain, like many other European countries, is quickly catching up to the world of bioprinting, which today is led by US-based companies but shows promise in many developed countries.

[Images: REGEMAT 3D]

The post REGEMAT 3D Will Start Selling Biomaterials appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Interview with Patrizio Carlucci of Innovation Lab ECCO on 3D Printing Shoes

Patrizio Carlucci

Patrizio Carlucci is the Head of Innovation Lab ECCO a subsidiary of Danish shoemaker ECCO. The Innovation Lab is ECCO’s independent cross-disciplinary design studio. They explore, create, and deliver projects embracing alternative production methods, various materials, new technologies and experiential solutions. This lab has a big project called QUANT-U. It is a footwear customisation project by Innovation Lab ECCO. Built on half a century of industry experience and footwear research in dynamics and fit: QUANT-U combines future technologies to create 3D printed customised comfort, quantified by you. So for more info on innovation and 3D printing within the footwear industry pay attention to this interview!

Tell me a little bit about your background and how you are at this point of your life and your career.

I am an industrial designer by trade with a keen passion towards computer aided design and 3D printing. Fortunate enough in my career to be involved in innovative projects, not only from a designer’s perspective, I have been driven to challenge my own skills and knowledge base on a regular basis. Having been an early adopter of innovative digital tools has helped me in roles were transformation and change management was paramount for businesses, especially from a product strategy perspective.

What are some of the most important aspects of your career that have followed you through various roles?

A common thread for me has been the application of digital agile processes between concepts and products. Being agile in product design and development means more opportunities to identify at an early stage a breakthrough design direction or to refine to perfection existing ones. Furthermore, I have never understood how design and styling, in terms of creative moments, could be isolated from the physical creation of a product, particularly when ultimate product performance is paramount. Designers often delegate 3D work to a modeler, and this is often cause for delays and misinterpretation. For this, from 3D modeling passing by FEA simulation to 3D renders used for marketing purposes, I have personally experienced almost any phase of advanced product development. This helped me further down the line with a decent understanding of advantages and shortcomings of innovative technologies during innovation tasks for the entire product life cycle management.

Quant-U

What skills are the most useful to have at the intersection of 3D Printing and footwear in particular?

It might be trivial but 3D modeling and developing a shoe is a challenging feat compared to other types of products. To mention just a few reasons for this: the lack of lines’ symmetry between the medial and lateral sides of the shoe, the criticality of observing the right fit requisites for a wide range of wearers and the relatively low-tech manufacturing processes that causes inconsistencies between the 3D models and the final shape of the shoe. This is mainly due to components that can’t be molded, cemented or stitched in their final shape if not developed in a flattened form. Additionally, a shoe is a soft and hard good at the same time, requiring distinct processes for uppers and soles. 3D printing an outsole creates a decent representation of the final product but 3D printing a soft upper that feels like the final product is close to impossible.

The team at Ecco has had some interesting projects coming recently. Can you go into more depth about what Ecco is doing in particular when it comes to 3D Printing and footwear?

Dassault Systemes

We are focusing heavily on the wearable data capturing process, both in terms of next generation hardware development and for the advanced interpretation of motion data related to FEA processes with our project partners Dassault Systemes. With DOW Chemical, another project partner, we continuously explore further properties of 3D printed silicone we use for our Quant-U project. There is a lot of hyped and misunderstood activity around 3D printed footwear without a solid solution for true mass production and customization. AM offers the chance to create bespoke parts in series, but this is rarely translated in a consumer product; most likely due to the complexity of the 3D models and a lack of measuring data to begin with. To solve this, we invested heavily on the digital capture and interpretation of motion and orthotic data and the related AI and automated processes for the creation of 3D models without human intervention. With our Quant-U project we are showcasing these abilities on the market already and we look forward to extending its reach to more customers soon.

Which countries around the world are the most innovative in terms of integrating fashion and technology? Where should we be paying attention to in terms of 3D Printing and fashion?

Well, if you consider how thin the separation line between fashion and sportswear is today, and if you consider that technology in wearable goods is usually seen in sportswear, I would put the USA and Germany on the top list. France is seeing a lot of activity related to technology in the luxury brands arena, although still at an experimental level. In Italy, the motherland of luxury goods manufacturing, there is some use of AM processes in the product development phase that might find their way in final products. In the Netherlands, a country often ahead of the curve, there is a vibrant movement dedicated to 3D printed shoes that has been inspiring for a lot of young designers, although not commercially exploited yet. For us at ECCO, a Danish company, we believe to express digital maturity in fashion with our latest project and we hope to engage more and more with consumers from this point of view.

I believe that the next technological innovations in fashion will be represented by new bio/growth materials with a strong focus on sustainability and smart materials that have augmented functionality. The commercial application of 3D printing processes for fashion in general is, and will still be, for few players that have the necessary resources to sustain processes that are still slow in terms of output and expensive in terms of investments. Until a 3D printed product is either fully circular and sustainable or performs substantially better than a standard one, I doubt it will ever surpass the scope of a hyped experiment.

For this, at ECCO with Quant-U, we invested into an approach were a fundamental component of a shoe could be customized and 3D printed using a material and a process that truly augments the product’s performance while keeping the manufacturing aspect intact.

3D Printing Industry Experts Interview With Ricky Solorzano Co-Founder and CEO of Allevi

Ricky Solorzano

Ricky Solorzano is the Co-Founder and CEO of Allevi. Ricky is looking to combining IoT, organ engineering, and 3D Printing to bring bioprinting solutions to the World, Space, and Beyond. Allevi, Inc. believes 3D tissues will have a huge impact on humanity and create an entire new industry. They want to help scientists create more accurate hearts, lungs, and even brains in the lab. Users are automating the creation of tumor models, printing vasculature within 3D gels, and achieving physiological markers unseen before in tissues.

Explain how you got to your current state in life?

Following my passion got me to this point. It was really about pursuing tissue engineering and thinking it had the possibility to change the world. At first I thought about medical school, but then I had a chance to start a company which was really cool.

What is your educational background?

I went to bioengineering school and worked in a tissue lab. I learned about geometry and how tissue engineering is important. I also took an entrepreneurship class in college. It opened my eyes to different ways one can affect the world around me.

Are startups on the cutting edge vs universities?

Our value is giving the scientist the ability to execute the idea. It is important for us to give people value and for them to bring theirs. It’s the combination of this co-creation that really pushes the fields forward.

What is your value proposition?

We are able to have a lot of power go into a bioprinter. We make them very friendly and easy to use still. We are abstracting the complexity of a bioprinter to simplicity.

Allevi

What are future thoughts on this industry?

More and more tissues will be in the drug testing space. There will be more and more adoptions in investigative PIs (private investigators) to have a bioprinter within their labs. More companies will realize that it is important to have one in their labs. It is important to apply geometry to biology.

A lot of people within the industry of bioprinting are focusing on the importance of geometry applied to biology. Could you explain this a bit more?

Hearts need to be aligned. Shapes need to be consistent when created. It causes an organ or body part to be functional or not. Without geometric properties being maintained, parts will not work as efficiently as they could.

What would you do outside of this if you were not running Allevi?

Tissue engineering product development is probably where I would be. Being able to commercialize things is great way to make an impact. I have been able to learn this really well and continue.

Allevi Dual Extruder

What skills should people be looking into to be in this industry?

Be passionate about a specific direction. If you are passionate about using a bioprinter, work as a bioengineer. It is really important to have a skill set within biology and biomaterials. I think every field can contribute, it just matters what makes you personally excited.

What is the toughest obstacle in terms of work?

Discovery and where do we go. It is hard to figure out what the next step is. We do not have a clear guidance on what to do. It is important to understand the industry as a whole and where it is progressing.

ORNL and UMaine Initiative Receives Funding to Create New Bio-Based 3D Printing Materials

UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center students and staff lift a boat roof from a mold 3D printed with a new biomaterial, nanocellulose-reinforced PLA, developed at the University of Maine. L-R: Michael Hunter, Camerin Seigars, Zane Dustin, Alex Cole, Scott Tomlinson, Richard Fredericks, and Habib Dagher. [Image: UMaine]

The researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee have spent a lot of time working with unique 3D printing materials, such as polyester, lignin, and nanocellulose, which is a bio-derived nanomaterial. Now, a new research collaboration between ORNL and the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center aims to increase efforts to use wood products as 3D printing materials. Together, the team will work with the forest products industry to create new bio-based 3D printing materials that can be used to make products like building components, boats and boat hull molds, wind blades, and shelters.

The large-scale initiative was announced this week in Washington, DC. Leaders from the university and ORNL, as well as the DoE‘s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy Daniel Simmons, the founding executive director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center Habib Dagher, and US Sens. Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander, and Angus King were all on hand for the announcement, which also stated that UMaine and ORNL had received $20 million in federal funding for the program from the DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office.

[Image: UMaine]

“While Oak Ridge is a global leader in additive manufacturing, the University of Maine is an expert in bio-based composites. By working together, they will strengthen environmentally responsible advanced manufacturing in America as well as helping the forest industry in the state of Maine,” Senator Collins said.

Sens. Collins and King requested federal help to save the declining forest products industry in Maine back in 2016, after several paper mills in the state closed their doors. This led to the founding of the Economic Development Assessment Team (EDAT) to work across agencies in order to come up with economic development strategies for the rural communities in Maine that were suffering from the mill closures. This team resulted in the ongoing partnership between UMaine and ORNL.

“Using Maine forest products for 3D printing is a great way to create new jobs in Maine and a good reminder that national laboratories are our secret weapons in helping the United States stay competitive in the rapidly changing world economy. The partnership between the University of Maine and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a model for how science and technology can help Americans prosper in the new economy,” said Senator Alexander.

A 3D printed representation of the state of Maine presented by Habib Dagher, executive director of UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The material was a wood-based product developed at UMaine. [Image: Contributed by the office of Sen. Susan Collins]

This October, ORNL’s BAAM 3D printer will be installed at UMaine, which is actually considered a world leader in cellulose nano fiber (CNF) technology. UMaine students can also visit ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility (MDF), while staff from the laboratory can in turn learn about cellulose fiber and composites at UMaine’s composites center.

One of the printer’s first tasks will be to fabricate a boat mold out of a wood-based plastic, though the team hopes to apply the technology to many large-scale manufacturing applications.

Habib Dagher, Executive Director of the Advanced Structures & Composites Center holds up 3D printed representations of Maine and Tennessee signifying new manufacturing programs between UMaine and ORNL that will use wood-based products in 3D printing. Sen. Angus King, I- Maine, and Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine, watch Dagher’s presentation after announcing $20 million in federal funding for the collaboration. [Image: Contributed by the office of Sen. Susan Collins]

Dagher explained, “The material is nanocellulose, basically a tree ground up to its nano structure. These materials have properties similar to metals. We are taking those and putting them in bioplastics so we can make very strong plastics that we can make almost anything with.”

The team will then add the nanocellulose to PLA.

“The University of Maine is doing cutting-edge research related to bio-feedstocks and the application of advanced manufacturing in regional industries,” said Thomas Zacharia, the director of ORNL. “We are thrilled at this opportunity to expand our research base while providing UMaine with access to the leading national capabilities we have developed at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.”

The overall goal for the initiative is to find new uses for wood-based products in an effort to reinvigorate Maine’s forest products industry, while also helping to make regional manufacturing stronger by connecting university–industry clusters with the MDF. The federal funding will be divided equally between both facilities.

“We will integrate 20 years of research in bio-based composites at UMaine and 3D printing at ORNL. It is an opportunity engine for our students, faculty, staff and manufacturing industry who will work side by side with researchers at our nation’s foremost research laboratory. Together, we will break down wood to its nanocellulose structure, combine it with bioplastics, and print with it at hundreds of pounds an hour,” said Dagher. “The research we will be conducting with ORNL will spur next-generation manufacturing technologies using recyclable, bio-based, cost-effective materials that will bolster our region’s economy.”

Scientists from UMaine and ORNL will be conducting research in multiple areas, such as multiscale modeling, CNF production, drying, functionalization, and compounding with thermoplastics, and sustainability life-cycle analysis.

CNF could actually rival the properties of steel, and by successfully adding it into plastics, the researchers could create a renewable feedstock for strong, recyclable, bio-derived material systems that might even be 3D printed at deposition rates of hundreds of pounds an hour. Additionally, using a material that’s 50% wood could help open new markets for the forest products industry.

UMaine will get world’s largest 3D printer and use wood-based plastic to make boat molds

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Bioprinting 101 – Part 11, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

Microscopic view of Tissue

I am glad to be running this series thus far. It seems that people are very interested with the subject matter, and I myself have learned even more as well. The series has discussed various technologies within bioprinting. We have also discussed a variety of bioprinting materials. We have barely even scratched the surface on topics we can talk about. In this article we are going to look into tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications of 3D bioprinting.

Let us first define our terms of interest. Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physiochemical factors to improve or replace biological tissues. Tissue engineering involves the use of a tissue scaffolds for the formation of new viable tissue for a medical purpose. We have talked about the use of bioprinting scaffolds in order to create tissue layers for organs and other parts of the body. One must understand that as a bioengineer, most of the techniques used to create tissue is based on biomimicry. Biomimicry refers to the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes. We are limited in our scope due to the fact that biology is a complex system and it is difficult to mimic natural and living processes. 3D bioprinting is a tool that expedites biomimicry and allows us to create rapidly with synthetic resources.

What is needed to create a scaffold for tissue engineering purposes

Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering go hand in hand. We are looking to build materials that may have innate regenerative properties within our bodies. This is a process that is essential to living organisms – the ability to repair oneself after damage or trauma. Regenerative medicine is a branch of translational research in tissue engineering and molecular biology which deals with the “process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function”. Extracellular matrix materials are commercially available and are used in reconstructive surgery, treatment of chronic wounds, and some orthopedic surgeries. This is the future of medical care in many ways. Our understanding of the ECM and bioprinting is evolving, and technology is continuously improving. The future of ECM biomaterials in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications is promising. Progress in decellularization techniques and optimization of recellularization strategies will improve various aspects of an ECM scaffold and its ability to be regenerative. These traits include biocompatibility, endothelialization, and functional anastomosis into the host vasculature.

Regenerative Medicine and 3D bioprinting

Endothelialization refers to the creation of endothelial tissue. Endothelial tissue refers to the tissue the layer of cells lining the inside of blood and lymph vessels, of the heart, and of some other closed cavities. Anastomosis a cross-connection between adjacent channels, tubes, fibers, or other parts of a network. These are major concerns when it comes to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine due to how we need to understand the need for biomimicry. We have to realize that it takes an absurd amount of precision to even build systems that replicate the inner structure of a vascular tissue layer. Then we have to think about how this will be self healing as well. This does not deter the development of this technology though as more people are intrigued by this subject matter on a daily basis.

3D bioprinting is an amazing step in the right direction, and there are companies, universities, and startups who are trying to be on the cutting edge of this field. The wealth of knowledge being created in this field is immense and frankly would intimidate people who are not aware of how vast the field is.

Now I believe the way for us to really delve deep within this series from now on is to start interviewing the leaders within this field. Due diligence will be done for the public to get more in depth understanding from industry experts. It is important to interview a variety of people within this field as no one necessarily is a specialist in this field. There seems to be a lot of cross pollination and multi skilled individuals. It makes for a wide variety of knowledge to be learned within the field of biology, synthetic biology, biomimicry, biophysics, chemistry, biochemistry, biomaterials, material science, biomedical fields, and a bunch of other fields I have not had a chance to mention. I personally believe that the revolution of bioprinting is a bit early. There is just so much development from different places. It is difficult to see the best methods at the moment. I will try to interview others to gain more insight and build a repertoire of knowledge for all readers.

This article is part of a series that wishes to make bioprinting more accessible. It starts with bioprinting 101, Hydrogels, 3D Industrial Bioprinters, Alginate, Bioinks, Pluronics, Applications, Gelatin, and Decellularized Extracellular Matrices.

Researchers Discuss Health Hazards of 3D Printed Implants & Biomaterials

As 3D printing, additive manufacturing, and bioprinting have offered substantial new avenues for innovation in the medical field and so many other industries, there are bound to be some downsides. And while obstacles in technique often present themselves, hazards regarding safety, emissions, and toxins are often the topic of study. But what about hazards for patients receiving 3D printed implants internally? Researchers Nihal Engin Vrana, Amir Ghaemmaghami, and Pinar Zorlutuna explored this question and more in their editorial ‘Adverse Reactions to Biomaterials: State of the Art in Biomaterial Risk Assessment, Immunomodulation and in vitro Models for Biomaterial Testing,’ while also listing a number of relevant articles on the topic .

A number of adverse reactions can occur when a 3D printed device is implanted into the body, to include:

Allergies
Chronic inflammation
Greater susceptibility to infection
Collateral tissue damage
Loss of functionality within immune system

“These concerns have created a general reticence in the medical device industry for the utilization of novel biomaterials and complex, multi-material structures which significantly hinders the advances in the field and also decelerates the introduction of new and potentially transformative technologies to the healthcare system,” state the researchers in their editorial.

Structure of hyaluronan (HA)

The articles they cite as having relevance to this subject overall include topics on skin substitutes, haemocompatibility of biomaterials and the analyses of interactions of biomaterials with human blood, liver- and lung-on-a-chip systems, and an overview of biomaterials.

3D printing has without a doubt had a major impact in healthcare, spanning nearly every aspect of what is undeniably a vast and ever-growing realm. 3D printed medical models are being used more because they have multi-faceted advantages, from helping in diagnosis and treatment to also allowing for educational advances to explain to patients and their families what is happening during an illness or consequent surgery, as well as giving medical students the opportunity to learn about conditions, and train in surgical procedures. Surgeons may also use 3D printed models in the operating room.

Other devices such as 3D printed prostheses have become extremely popular around the world and in developing countries as they can be created so quickly and economically and easily distributed. Bioprinting and biomaterials, however, are a much more serious progression into 3D printing and medicine as the eventual goal, the holy grail for many, is the fabrication of human organs—thus eliminating donor waiting lists, donor rejection in the patient, and a list of other issues that may in some cases mean a shortened life span.

In considering the benefits and the growing list of concerns, the research team suggests improving on risk assessment through in vitro testing, allowing for an internal view of how the human body is interacting with 3D printed implants after they are inserted. They also suggest the use of innovative technology that could act as a controlling mechanism for the 3D printed implant once it is in use within the body.

“The key to better harness the innovations in biomaterial and biomedical device fields is to establish the necessary methodologies and model systems for their risk assessment, validation, and testing,” concluded the researchers. “Recent success and ongoing efforts in developing technologies for immune engineering, personalized biomaterials and personalized in vitro testing platforms will bring forth the solutions that can improve the quality of life and life expectancy even further in twenty-first century.”

Bioprinting and the study of biomaterials continues to expand today, from interests in regenerative medicine and 4D printing to progressive bioinks and materials like microgels. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source: Adverse Reactions to Biomaterials: State of the Art in Biomaterial Risk Assessment, Immunomodulation and in vitro Models for Biomaterial Testing,’]

Schematic representation of the procedure for the evaluation of the hemocompatibility of biomaterials. First, fresh human blood is collected and anticoagulated with low dose heparin. Thereafter, the test material is incubated at 37°C using static, agitated, or dynamic test models with the blood. The activation markers in the blood are analyzed before and after the incubation with the test material. Furthermore, the surface of the biomaterial is analyzed to determine the interaction of blood cells and proteins with the biomaterial surface.