SE3DPASTE

3D bioprinting may soon get a boost from standardised storable 'ink'

About 40 years ago, a revolutionary device for creating complex free-form 3D structures hit the market. 3D printing gave birth to additive manufacturing, used to quickly make prototypes by adding sequential layers of materials to a substrate based on CAD files. Bioengineers seeking to make complex 3D tissues and organs took the ball and ran with it. However, recreating life-sustaining vasculature has been challenging. SE3DPASTE is developing a process to create standardised portable and storable tissue-specific embedding baths (gels) for bioprinting that are patterned to guide formation of 3D vasculature. If successful, ‘off-the-shelf’ 3D-printed tissue could soon become the norm.

Objective

Engineering tissues with a hierarchical vascular network, which is the goal of our ERC project VascArbor, is challenging. Developments in the field of biofabrication, including 3D bioprinting, are promising to cope with this challenge. However, current strategies lack the capacity to create hierarchical, high resolution, cost efficient, upscalable constructs in a standardized manner with a single approach.

Embedded bioprinting, allowing the deposition of complex constructs without the need of a supporting substrate, provides a potential solution. However, embedding baths used so far consist of inert materials and therefore cannot become a functional component of the tissue. Also, the embedding bath should be patternable to allow for multistructural tissues, but printing of the bath itself is currently challenging due to clogging of the nozzle.

SE3DPASTE will develop free standing embedding baths that are storable for “off-the-shelf” use and tissue specific. Additionally, SE3DPASTE will develop bespoke 3D printing nozzles that will allow for the creation of patterned embedding baths. SE3DPASTE will lead to storable, transportable, tissue specific embedding baths that act as a patterning template and can be used for embedded bioprinting of tissue. This combination of features, which does currently not exist in embedding baths for 3D printing, will be a key enabler for the generation of standardized 3D tissue environments that lead to predictable tissue development for research-, clinical-, or drug screening purposes.

Contact info

j.rouwkema@utwente.nl

dr.ir. J. Rouwkema (Jeroen)
Associate Professor

More information

https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/861895

www.vascularizationlab.com