Bio 3d printers

3D Bioprinters - Extrusion, DLP, Biodispensing

Print the future with us

Extrusion 3D bioprinting

Based on computer numerical control (CNC) machining processes, extrusion-based bioprinting precisely dispenses bio-compatible materials layer by layer, following tool paths generated in slices from 3D models. Our extrusion-based 3D bioprinters are designed with flexibility in mind to give bioengineers the freedom to work with a wider range of biomaterials, opening the door for more relevant tissue engineering.

BIO X™

This award-winning design is a go-to bioprinter for academics, researchers and innovators.

BIO X6™

Another award-winning design delivers unparalleled bioprinting flexibility with 6 printheads.

INKREDIBLE+™

Our first bioprinter revolutionized an industry and continues working hard for training and education.

Light-based 3D bioprinting

Adapted from stereolithography (SLA) processes, light-based bioprinting produces constructs by initiating chemical reactions that solidify or cure bioinks only where they have been illuminated. With multiple types of light-based technologies, like digital light processing (DLP), they are typically much faster because they cure whole layers simultaneously. Thanks to small points of light in the millions, light-based bioprinters are also able to recreate more intricate details at much higher resolutions.

Lumen X+™

The DLP bioprinter for printing microscopic features with speed, fidelity and precision.

BIONOVA X

This DLP bioprinter lights up high resolution, high-throughput 3D bioprinting.

Quantum X bio

The bioprinter with all the features you need for printing with bioresins containing living cells.

Biodispensing

BIO CELLX

This fully automated biodispensing solution leverages bring the power of 3D cell biology to your benchtop.

The future is created in the present, and bioprinting will change the future of medicine.

Delivering high-quality products and keeping your work cutting edge

We’re equipping hundreds of labs and thousands of scientists worldwide with cutting-edge technologies that fuel groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs. With a commitment to quality and innovation, our 3D bioprinters and bioinks have contributed to revolutionary advancements in academic and clinical medicine.

CELLINK is a global leader in developing and delivering 3D bioprinting solutions for the life-science industry.

Complete in-house product development and manufacturing

A high-quality team creates high-quality, innovative bioprinters

Our tech team of mechanical, electronics, robotics and software engineers as well as our UX/UI designers, biomaterial scientist and tissue engineers make it possible for us to fully develop our bioprinters, bioinks and softwares in-house. Our development and manufacturing teams work very closely in the development process. This has enabled us to accelerate the transition from prototype to first batch and finally to series production, all under the ISO 9001 Quality Management System. Working with the ISO 9001 ensures that our customers get consistent, good quality products and services. This truly gives a complete control when delivering new and innovative products and solutions to our customers since we can utilize the full strength, expertise and passion of the team to get the job done. Having a full in-house development team that works closely with our collaborators and partners who are users of the technology has made it possible to grow our knowledge and expertise on developing products that have a direct need in the bioprinting field and life sciences.

In order to keep high standards, we do all our production in-house.

Get started now

Reach out to us with your 3D bioprinting needs, and our experts will be happy to show the capabilities of our 3D bioprinters, and how our systems can help your research.

BIO X 3D Bioprinter - CELLINK

Generation 3 of the go-to 3D bioprinter for cell biologists, tissue engineers and biomedical researchers.

Explore the most user-friendly and flexible bioprinter in the world

Open biomaterial platform

While we offer an extensive portfolio of biomaterials, we understand the necessity and importance to make the BIO X compatible with the widest range of biomaterials available.

Better Cell Safety

Thanks to built-in UV sterilization and a HEPA filter, our patented Clean Chamber™ technology, the BIO X brings the sterility of the biosafety cabinet to the benchtop.

Intelligent Printheads for flexibility

Our range of intelligent printheads brings users of the BIO X the utmost flexibility and interchangeability. The printheads are developed to suit many different biofabrication projects.

DNA Studio 4 Compatible

Generation 3 of the BIO X harnesses the power of the most advanced bioprinting software available today.

Advanced functionality and versatility.

Streamline your workflows in a wide range of application areas.

The BIO X’s compatibility with virtually any material makes it the bioprinter of choice for industry leaders at the forefront of today’s biggest scientific breakthroughs. Whether you are automating 3D cell cultures, developing complex tissue constructs or testing new drug compounds, the BIO X 3D bioprinter has the advanced functionality and versatility to streamline workflows in a wide range of application areas.

Patented Clean Chamber for better cell safety

Built-in UV sterilization and a HEPA filter bring the sterility of the biosafety cabinet to the benchtop.

Dual high-powered fans channel air through a HEPA h24 filter to remove 99.995% of unwanted particles and microorganisms as part of the Clean Chamber™ technology, which also includes UV-C germicidal lights, rounded edges and positive air pressure.

Initiate Clean Chamber before beginning your experiment to ensure full sterility around the print area for the duration of the print.

Open material platform, bioprint with the widest range of materials.

Universal biomaterial compatability

We offer an extensive portfolio of bioinks but understand the importance of material development, which is why we built the BIO X to be an open system that is compatible with the widest range of materials available. Start developing your own bioinks with our high-quality bioink development products or explore our ready-to-print bioinks.

Excellent temperature control

Bioprint with a wider range of materials and cell types thanks to precise printhead and printbed temperature control.

With a printhead temperature range of 4°C to 250°C and a printbed temperature range between 4°C and 65°C, enjoy precise control of temperatures when working with temperature-sensitive materials like collagen and gelatin. The possibilities are limitless when you are able to work with a wider range of materials and cell types.

Grow your research with multiple, interchangeable, Intelligent Printheads

BIO X is the first 3D bioprinter in the world with Intelligent Printheads (iPH), ensuring your research is always at the forefront.

With an ever-growing list of Intelligent Printheads, the possibilities are limitless, giving you more freedom to push your research further. Our family of intelligent printheads is always growing. Each printhead system is made to suit different biofabrication application, which helps ensure the best possible result for your 3D bioprint.

Designed to do even more

The BIO X’s exceptional features maximize versatility to enhance your success in the following application areas and beyond.

3D cell culture

Three-dimensional cell cultures offer multiple advantages over 2D cell cultures, including the precise geometrical arrangement of multicellular constructs that can better recapitulate the native 3D human physiology. Extrusion-based bioprinters such as the BIO X offers great flexibility when designing 3D cell culture systems, as they allow researchers to precisely control geometries and the spatial patterning of cells and other biomaterials.

Tissue models and engineering

The BIO X allows for 3D bioprinting with up to three printheads, enabling multi-material and multi-cell flixbility during small and large tissue engineering. The world’s your oyster.

Organ-on-a-chip

The merger of bioprinting and microfluidics opens the door to on-demand and personalized organ-on-a-chip models and may replace many preclinical steps in future drug trials. The BIO X, combined with microfluidic systems like the VasKit perfusion system allow for complex organ-chip models; and multi-printhead technology can be used in a one-step fabrication design with spatial heterogeneity of tissues.

Drug delivery

Bioprinters can do more than print with cells, they can also be used for fabricating hydrogel drug encapsulation and extended-release technologies. The BIO X bioprinter offers a variety of printheads that are compatible with different hydrogels. Drugs and bioactives can be mixed within the hydrogels and printed in patterns such as large patches or micrometer-sized beads.

Soft robotics

Biohybrid soft robotics is an emerging field that combines material science, biomechanics, sensing, and cells. The advantage of utilizing 3D bioprinting is the ability to fabricate systems with precise geometries and spatial patterning of cell types. Such systems can be further integrated or bioprinted with advanced nanomaterials and biosensors to enable more diverse controls and functions.

Technical specifications

*Outer dimensions (LWH), mm*	477x441x365
Weight, kg	18
Build Volume, mm	130 x 90 x 70 mm
Build surface compatibility	Multi-well plates, petridishes, glass slides
Resolution XY, μm	1
Layer Resolution, μm	1
Pressure range (internal pump), kPa	0-200
Pressure range (external air supply), kPa	0-700
No. of printhead slots	3
Photocuring sources (built-in), nm	365, 405, 485, 520
Printbed temperature range, °C	4-65
Printhead temperature range, °C	4-250 (printhead specific)
Filter class, chamber air-flow	HEPA 14
UV-sterilization	UV-C (275nm), 20mW output
Calibration Options	Manual and Automatic
User Interface	Integrated Display, DNA Studio
DNA Studio OS compatibility	Windows
Connectivity	USB Storage, Ethernet connection
Supported file formats, software	. gcode, .stl

Ready to create the future of health?

all about printing organs on a 3D printer

Printing organs on a 3D printer or bioprinting is a promising technology for growing healthy and living organs to replace damaged or missing ones. In addition to a 3D printer, bioprinting requires a model of an organ, patient cell material, and an environment where the organ will remain until implantation.

Printed organs are better than prostheses and transplanted body parts. Their capabilities are identical to native ones and they are not rejected by the immune system if they are created from the patient's DNA. Bioprinting will reduce the time to obtain the desired organ and save the lives of patients who need an immediate transplant.

Printing organs on a 3D printer has already been successfully tested on animals. Scientists at Northwestern University implanted artificial ovaries in sterilized mice and they gave birth to healthy mice. In the Chinese company Sichuan Revotek, rhesus monkeys have been implanted with blood vessels grown from the material of the same monkeys.

From human body parts, only internal tissues and skin are printed so far. Reduced but working copies of ears and noses are created. The first printing of human organs is expected by 2030.

How bioprinting works

Research groups or companies are developing different bioprinting concepts:

Wireframe. The growth of living cells on an inorganic base, which disappears with the development of natural connections between cells. The main difficulty is to find a material that is as elastic or rigid as the organ being replaced. It must degrade quickly so as not to interfere with the strengthening of the extracellular matrix and dissolve without leaving toxic compounds. Hydrogel, titanium, gelatin, synthetic and biopolymers are suitable for wireframe printing.
Frameless. Application of prepared cells on a hydrogel base. While the cells are in the printer, they are cooled and are in thin hydrogel spheroids. When printing, the temperature rises to 36.6°C, the spheroids scatter, and the cells gradually form their own natural framework - the cellular matrix. This printing is less common than wireframe printing - it appeared later and is more difficult to reproduce.
Mimicry. The technology of the future, involves the creation of complete copies of organs at once. For it, bioprinting is being developed at the molecular level and in-depth studies of the nature of cells are being carried out.

Methods for 3D printing of organs

Inkjet. The first devices for bioprinting were inkjet, conventional printers also use this method. They store biological material in cartridges that are sprayed onto a hydrogel substrate like paint on paper. Disadvantages - inaccurate droplet ejection and blockage of the spray nozzle with possible death of cellular material. Inkjet printing of organs on a printer is not suitable for viscous materials because they are not atomized. The scope is limited to the restoration of bone, cartilage, muscles and skin. Advantages - low cost and mass reproducibility.

Microextrusion. This method is used in inorganic 3D printing. For printing, a pneumatic supply of material is used in a movable extruder head, which stacks the cells. The more heads, the more accurate and faster the printer. Disadvantages - the denser the cells fit, the less they survive. With a comparable stacking density, more cells die from microextrusion printing than from inkjet printing. Advantages - suitable for 3D printing of high-density organs, fine-tuning of the material supply due to pressure regulation.

Laser. Common in industry but used in bioprinting. A laser is used to heat glass with a liquid cell substrate. At the beam concentration point, excess pressure is created, which pushes the cells to the desired area of the substrate. A reflective element is placed between the beam and the glass with biomaterial, which reduces the power of the beam. Disadvantages - increased metal content in the cells from the evaporation of the reflective element. Price. Advantages - controlled up to individual cells, laying of biomaterial.

Who offers 3D printing of organs

Bioprinting companies that offer 3D printing of organs or sell bioprinters:

Organovo - San Diego, USA. Prints and sells liver tissue " exVive3D" to pharmaceutical companies. In 2009, Organovo, together with the Austrian Invetech, launched the first mass-produced bioprinter, Novogen.
BioBots is a startup that presented a cheap commercial bioprinter at TechCrunch 2013. Today, the Biobot 1 model is available for purchase, Biobot 2 is still in development, but already presented on the company's website.
3D Bioprinting Solutions - Russia , Moscow. Focused on frameless printing, has developed its FABION 3D printer and is working on its own organoprinting technology
Cyfuse Biomedical - Tokyo, Japan. They developed the Regenovo bioprinter, which was used to print skin and successfully grew 2-mm vessels.

How much does a 3D bioprinter cost

The average cost of a bioprinter is a quarter of a million dollars, but budget models are available for up to $10,000. Most printers available for purchase are extrusion type and work with frame printing.

3D Bioplotter - $200,000 Envision TEC, Germany.
Novogen MMX - $250.00. Organovo, USA.

Biobot 1 - $10,000. Biobots, USA.
3DDiscovery - $200,000. RegenHU & Biofactory, Switzerland.
BioAssemblyBot - $160,000 Advanced Solutions, The Netherlands.

Supporting a patient with life support devices costs about $75,000 per year. In 10 years, the patient will spend $1 million. The printer costs $200,000 and the operation costs about the same. Considering how much it costs to print organs, the operation using 3D bioprinting is reduced by 50%.

The Future of Bioprinting

3D bioprinting has gone from concept to working and commercially successful technology. So far, the main clients of bioprinting companies are large pharmaceutical corporations. They speed up drug testing by testing them directly on printed human tissues.

Expensive bioprinters won't be in city clinics in 5 years, but some patients are already recovering thanks to 3D printing. The jaw of an 83-year-old woman from Belgium was struck by osteomyelitis. The restoration was more expensive and would have taken longer than the removal of the diseased jaw and the implantation of a printed new one. A team of doctors led by Professor Jules Poukan performed the operation and the woman was able to speak immediately after the operation. The development of bioprinting will lead to medical practices where it is easier to remove an injured limb and grow a new one than to treat injuries that are now treated without amputation.

Medicine of the distant future minimizes mechanical intervention in the body. The scalpel will remain in the past - a swarm of nanorobots will print organs immediately inside the body. In 2018, a full-fledged printing of a human organ on a printer is planned - the kidneys. Then the bronchi, arteries and heart will be printed. But even clinical trials on humans are about 10 years away, and mass 3D printing of human organs and body parts will come even later.

In addition to doctors, bioprinting is attractive to cosmetologists and plastic surgeons. The desire to remain young and beautiful, and not the treatment of rare and complex diseases, will make 3D printing of human organs mass. Perhaps the people of the future will change organs and appearance as easily as smartphones.

Organ printing: how 3D bioprinting technology has advanced and what is preventing its development In research centers and hospitals around the world, advances in 3D printing and bioprinting are providing new opportunities for human treatment and scientific research.

In the coming decades, bioprinting could be the next major milestone in healthcare and personalized medicine.

Let's talk about bioprinting technology, the latest advances in the industry and the limitations that professionals face.

How a 3D printer works

Traditional printers, like the one you have at home or office, work in two dimensions. They can print text or images on a flat surface (usually paper) using the x (horizontal) and y (vertical) dimensions. 3D printers add another dimension - depth (z). During the printing process, the printer heads can move up and down, left and right, back and forth, but instead of delivering ink to paper, they distribute various materials - polymers, metal, ceramics and even chocolate - until the "print" of a holistic, voluminous object , layer by layer in a process known as "additive manufacturing".

To create a 3D object, you need a plan for it, a digital file created with modeling software. After its creation, the computer-generated model is sent to the printer. Your chosen material is loaded into the machine and ready to be heated to easily flow out of the printer nozzle. As the printer reads the plan, its head moves, depositing successive layers of the selected material to create the final product.

As each layer is printed, it is solidified either by cooling or by mixing two different solutions delivered by the printer head. The new layers precisely lay down on the previous ones to make a stable, cohesive element. In this way, you can create almost any shape, including a moving one.

3D printing allows you to create objects with geometric structures that would be difficult or impossible to make in other ways. A wide range of products are already being created using 3D printers, including jewelry, clothing, toys, and high-end industrial products. Even a 10-year-old Moscow schoolboy has learned how to work with a 3D printer: he prints 3D figures to order and sells them through Instagram.

How a bioprinter works

Bioprinters work in much the same way as 3D printers, with one key difference - they deposit layers of biomaterial, which can include living cells, to create complex structures such as blood vessels or skin tissue.

Living cells? Where do they get them? Every tissue in the body is made up of different types of cells. The required cells (kidney, skin, and so on) are taken from the patient and then cultured until there are enough of them to create "bio-ink" that is loaded into the printer. This is not always possible, therefore, for some tissues, stem cells are taken that are capable of becoming any cell in the body (organism), or, for example, porcine collagen protein, seaweed and others.

Often used in bioprinting is chitosan, a polysaccharide obtained from the external skeleton of mollusks (eg shrimp) or by fermenting fungi. This material has high biocompatibility and antibacterial properties. Its disadvantage is the low rate of gelation. Another popular material is a polysaccharide isolated from seaweed called agarose. Its advantages are high stability and the possibility of non-toxic cross-linking during research. However, this biomaterial does not decompose and has poor cell adhesion (the ability of cells to stick together with each other and with other substrates).

Collagen, the primary structural protein found in the skin and other connective tissues, has a high biological significance. It is the most abundant protein in mammals and a major component of connective tissue. Its disadvantages for bioprinting include the property of acid solubility. More information about biomaterials can be found here.

Based on computer designs and models, often scans and MRIs taken directly from the patient, the printer heads place the cells exactly where they are needed and within a few hours an organic object is built from a large number of very thin layers.

Organovo bioprinter creates tissues that mimic the structure and composition of various human organs

Source: Pbs. org

Scaffolding for ear or nose replacement at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Source: CBS News

Computer displays an image of a "scaffolding" for the human ear, created in a laboratory at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Source: CBS News

Usually more than just cells are needed, so most bioprinters also supply some kind of organic or synthetic "glue" - a soluble gel or collagen scaffold to which cells can attach and grow. This helps them form and stabilize in the correct shape. Surprisingly, some cells can take the correct position on their own without any "scaffolding". How do they know where to go? How do embryonic cells develop in the uterus, or does adult tissue move to repair damage? Same here.

Universities, researchers and private companies around the world are involved in the development of bioprinting technologies. Let's take a look at some of the amazing things they are working on.

Bioprinting in Russia

3D Bioprinting Solutions is a biotechnology research laboratory founded by medical company INVITRO. The activity of the laboratory is the development and production of bioprinters and materials in the field of three-dimensional bioprinting and scientific research. August 23, 20193D Bioprinting Solutions laboratory sent a new batch of cuvettes to the ISS to continue experiments on bioprinting in space, which began in 2018. This was reported in the press center of the laboratory. This time it is planned to use organic and inorganic components to assemble bone tissue on the world's first space bioprinter Organ.Aut.

Symposium "Biofabrication in space"

Source: Zdrav.Expert

Organ.Aut magnetic bioprinter

Source: Zdrav.Expert

The astronauts will also grow protein crystals and experiment with printing biofilms of bacteria to study their behavior in zero gravity. Russian scientists expect to receive unique scientific data that can be applied in the development of new drugs.

Scientific director of 3D Bioprinting Solutions and leading researcher of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Candidate of Medical Sciences Vladimir Mironov, in his speech at the Department of Anatomy of Sechenov University on September 2, noted: “Living cells, tissues and human organs will be synthesized already in the current century. To do this, morphological sciences, such as microscopic anatomy and histology, must be digitized or digitalized, that is, digitized and made available for computer programs of robotic bioprinters, since without digital models it is impossible to print human tissues and organs.”

Bioprinting around the world

Every year, millions of people around the world need a bone transplant. Modern bone grafts often use cement-based synthetic material in combination with the patient's own bone. However, the use of these materials has a number of limitations - some transplants caused rejection and inflammatory processes in patients. Reproduction of the natural bone-cartilage "interface" has also been problematic.

However, a team from Swansea University in 2014 developed a bioprinting technology that allows the creation of an artificial bone prosthesis in the exact shape of the desired bone, using a biocompatible material that is both durable and regenerative. At the same time, scientists from the University of Nottingham in England were working on similar studies.

It takes about two hours to print a small bone. Therefore, surgeons can do it right in the operating room. This part of the bone is then covered with adult stem cells that can develop into almost any other type of cell. This is combined with bio-ink from the printer, a combination of polylactic acid (which provides mechanical strength to bone) and alginate, a gel-like substance that serves as a shock-absorbing material for cells. The end product is then implanted into the body, where it will completely disappear within about three months and be replaced by new bone.

Researchers hope that in the future, bioprinted bones can be created with sufficient reliability to support complex spinal reconstruction, and that the bone material will be further improved to increase its compatibility with cartilage cells.

Source: ETH Zurich

Successful 3D printing of human cartilage may soon completely replace artificial implants for people in need of reconstructive surgery. Back in 2015, scientists in Zurich developed technology that would allow hospitals to print a full-size human nose implant in less than 20 minutes. They believe that any cartilage implant can be made using their technique.

Researcher Matti Kesti described the technology as follows:

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“A serious car accident can cause the driver or passenger to suffer complex nose injuries. The nose can be restored by creating a 3D model on a computer. At the same time, a biopsy of the patient is performed and cartilage cells are removed from the victim's body, such as from a knee, a finger, an ear, or fragments of a broken nose. The cells are spawned in the laboratory and mixed with the biopolymer. From this suspension, a model of nasal cartilage is created using a bioprinter, which is implanted into the patient during surgery. In the process, the biopolymer is used simply as a mold. It is subsequently broken down by the body's own cartilage cells. And in a couple of months it will be impossible to distinguish between the graft and the person’s own nasal cartilage.”

Matti Kesti

Since the implant was grown from the body's own cells, the risk of rejection will be much lower than for an implant made of, say, silicone. An additional advantage is that the bioimplant grows with the patient, which is especially important for children and young people.

If a person is severely burned, healthy skin can be taken from another part of the body and used to cover the affected area. Sometimes intact skin is missing.

Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have successfully designed, built and tested a printer that can print skin cells directly onto a burn wound. The scanner very accurately determines the size and depth of damage. This information is sent to a printer and skin is printed to cover the wound. Unlike traditional skin grafts, it only takes a patch of skin one-tenth the size of a burn to grow enough cells to print. While this technology is still in the experimental stage, the researchers hope that it will be widely available within the next five years.

As already mentioned, 3D printers print products in layers, and since the skin is a multi-layered organ with different types of cells, it is well suited for this type of technology. However, researchers still have a lot of problems to solve, in particular, how to prevent damage to cells from the heat generated by the printer. And of course, like most parts of the human body, the skin is more complex than it first appears—there are nerve endings, blood vessels, and a host of other aspects to consider.

Blood vessels

Biomechanical engineer Monica Moya holding a Petri dish with printed alginate-based biotubes. Biotubes can act as temporary blood vessels similar to blood vessels that help create a patch of living tissue.

Source: embodi3D

With tens of thousands of miles of veins, arteries and capillaries in the human body, researchers are working to replace them if they ever wear out. The creation of viable blood vessels is also essential for the proper functioning of all other potential bioprinted body parts.

Biomechanical Engineer Monica Moya of Livermore National Laboratory. Lawrence uses bioprinting to create blood vessels. The materials created by her bioprinters are engineered to allow small blood vessels to develop on their own.

This development takes time, so vials of cells and other biomaterials are printed to help deliver vital nutrients to the printed environment. After a while, self-assembled capillaries connect with bioprinted tubes and begin to deliver nutrients to cells on their own, mimicking the work of these structures in the human body.

Internal organs

Many researchers hope that in 20 years the lists of patients waiting for organ transplants will become a thing of the past. They envision a world where any organ can be printed and transplanted in just a few hours, without rejection or complications, because these organs will be created from body cells according to the individual characteristics of each patient. Currently, bioprinting of fully functional complex internal organs is not possible, but research is ongoing (and not without success).

Bladder

For example, the bladder is already printed. In 2013, at Wake Forest University in the US, researchers successfully took cells from a patient's original, poorly functioning bladder, cultured them, and added additional nutrients. The 3D shape of the patient's bladder was then printed and the cultured cells soaked through it. The form was placed in an incubator and, when it reached the desired condition, it was transplanted into the patient's body. The mold will eventually collapse, leaving only the organic material. The same team successfully created viable urethras.

Physicians and scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) were the first in the world to create laboratory-grown organs and tissues that were successfully transplanted into humans. Right now they are working on growing tissues and organs for more than 30 different areas of the body, from the kidneys and trachea to cartilage and lungs. They also aim to accelerate the availability of these treatments to patients.

Scientists in Australia are doing similar research as well. They used human stem cells to grow a kidney organ that contains all the necessary cell types for a kidney. Such cells can serve as a valuable initial source for bioprinting more complex kidney structures.

MD, Professor of Urology, Professor of the Institute of Regenerative Medicine Anthony Atala shows a kidney created by a bioprinter. A modified desktop inkjet printer sprays cells instead of ink. The cells were cultured from the patient and the structural template for the kidney was obtained from the MRI (so it is the correct size and shape).

Using this technology, back in 2001, Atala printed and successfully transplanted a bladder into a young man, Jake.

Source: TedEd

Heart

Heart cells, laboratory-grown organelles. Source

Surprisingly, it is the human heart that can become one of the easiest organs to print, since, in fact, it is a pump with tubes. Of course, everything is not so simple, but many researchers believe that humanity will learn to print hearts before kidneys or liver.

Researchers at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in April 2015 created "organoids" - 3D printed fully functional, beating heart cells.

In April 2019, Israeli scientists printed the world's first 3D heart. It is still very small, the size of a cherry, but it is able to perform its functions. The 3D heart with blood vessels uses personalized "ink" of collagen, a protein that supports cell structures, and other biological molecules.

A Tel Aviv University researcher holds the world's first 3D printed heart on April 15, 2019.
Source: Haaretz

“This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully designed and printed a whole heart with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,” said Tel Aviv University scientist Professor Tal Dvir.

So far, scientists have been able to print cartilage tissue and, for example, the aortic valve, but the challenge has been to create tissue with vascularity — blood vessels, including capillaries, without which organs cannot survive, let alone function.

The Tel Aviv scientists started with human adipose tissue and separated the cellular and non-cellular components. They then reprogrammed the cells to become undifferentiated stem cells, which could then become cardiac or endothelial. Endothelium - a single layer of flat cells lining the inner surface of the heart cavities, blood and lymphatic vessels. Endothelial cells perform many functions of the vascular system, such as controlling blood pressure, regulating the components of blood clotting, and the formation of new blood vessels.

Non-cellular materials, including large amounts of proteins, were processed into a "personalized hydrogel" that served as "printing ink".

It will be years before this technology can create organs for efficient transplantation. However, the achievements of scientists in Tel Aviv are a huge milestone along the way.

Medical research and pharmacology

One of the key potential uses for bioprinted living materials is in the field of medical and drug research. Bioprinted tissues have several cell types with different densities and key architectural features. This allows researchers to study the impact of various diseases on the body, the stages of disease progression and possible treatments in the natural microenvironment.

One of the most impressive developments in recent years is the development of a desktop brain at the ARC Center of Excellence in 2016. The researchers were able to use a 3D printer to create a 3D printed six-layer structure that includes nerve cells that mimic the structure of brain tissue.

This opens up huge potential benefits for researchers, pharmaceuticals and private companies, because it will allow them to test new products and drugs on tissue that accurately reflects the responses of human brain tissue, as opposed to animal samples, which may cause a completely different response. The desktop brain can also be used to further investigate diseases such as schizophrenia or Alzheimer's.

We are far from printing the brain, but the ability to arrange cells to form neural networks is a significant step forward. By allowing researchers to work with human tissue in real time, testing processes can be greatly accelerated and results can be more realistic and accurate. It will also reduce the need to use laboratory animals for medical tests and potentially dangerous human testing.

Medical simulators and data registries

Source: Simbionix

About 3,000 medical simulators are currently in use around the world to help doctors practice complex procedures. Virtual blood vessels, 3D printed organs... and no animal suffers!

The American company 3D Systems has created an industry segment called VSP (Virtual Surgical Planning). This approach to personalized surgery combines expertise in medical imaging, surgical simulation and 3D printing. Surgeons using the Simbionix medical simulator for the first time often report feeling physical pain while empathizing with their virtual patient - the experience is so realistic. Organs and tissues look completely real. When stitching an organ, the surgeon sees on the screen a needle that enters the tissue, and pulls the thread. If the doctor does something wrong, the virtual blood vessels break and the organ begins to bleed. These simulators were developed by the Israeli company Symbionix, which was acquired by 3D Systems in 2014.

On September 3, 2019, the Radiology Society of North America (RSNA) and the American College of Radiology (ACR) announced the launch of a new 3D Medical Printing Clinical Data Registry to collect data on treatment outcomes using 3D printing at the point of care. This information will be a powerful tool to assess and improve patient care in real time, drive ongoing research and development, and inform patients and healthcare professionals about the best course of care.

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“The creation of a joint RSNA-ACR 3D printing registry is essential to the advancement of clinical 3D printing. The registry will collect data to support the appropriate use of this technology and its implications for clinical decision making.”

William Widock, Professor of Radiology at the University of Michigan and Chairman of the RSNA 3D Printing Special Interest Group (SIG)

According to RSNA, the information in the registry will allow for the necessary analysis to demonstrate the clinical value of 3D printing. Due to the wide variety of clinical indications, different technologies for creating physical models from medical images, and the complexity of the models, it is problematic to choose the optimal treatment method. The registry will help solve this problem.

Bioprinting software

Bioprinter and bioprinting software manufacturer Allevi introduced Allevi Bioprint Pro software on September 5, 2019. Built-in model generation and integrated slicing will allow you to focus more on experimenting, rather than setting up the printer. The program runs entirely in the cloud, which means you can create your biostructures, define materials, and track prints right from a web browser on any computer.

According to the development team, the new bioprinter with the above software is powerful and easy to use and represents another piece of the puzzle on the way to 3D printed organs.

At the same time, CELLINK, the first bio-ink company, announced the launch of a new product to become the most flexible bio-printing platform on the market. The BIO X6 bioprinter, which has no analogues at the moment, has the ability to combine more bioprinting materials, cells and tools.

Why is this taking so long?

Complex body structure

The human body and its various components are much more complex than a plastic toy. The human organ has a complex network of cells, tissues, nerves, and structures that must be arranged in specific ways to function properly. From placing thousands of tiny capillaries in the liver to actually getting a printed heart that "beats" and contracts in the human body, there is still a lot of research and testing.

Legal regulation

In addition, bioprinting technologies, like all new medical treatments, must pass safety tests and due process of regulation before they become available.

Special software and hardware

It also takes time to develop special software and hardware. These programs can be written only with the appropriate data (medical, clinical, statistical, mathematical, and so on), which someone must first collect, analyze, systematize and digitize.

Working through all of these steps requires the integration of technologies from various fields, including engineering, biomaterials science, cell biology, physics, mathematics and medicine. So we need to be a little more patient.

The main thing is to know that those who work in the field, doctors and engineers, programmers and scientists are making progress every day both in the bioprinting technology itself and in understanding how it can be used and improved. Although we are not quite there yet, there is no doubt that medicine will be very different in 10-20 years, thanks also to bioprinting.

In brief

Bioprinting is an extension of traditional 3D printing.

Bioprinting can produce living tissue, bones, blood vessels, and possibly entire organs for use in medical procedures, medical training, and testing.

The cellular complexity of a living organism has made 3D bioprinting slower to develop than conventional 3D printing.