Biotech Revolution

 

Biotech Revolution

What Is 3D Bioprinting? 

3D bioprinting is an additive manufacturing process where organic and biological materials such as living cells and nutrients are combined to create artificial structures that imitate natural human tissues.

In other words, bioprinting is a type of 3D printing that can potentially produce anything from bone tissue and blood vessels to living tissues for various medical applications, including tissue engineering and drug testing and development.

Perhaps the most significant driver of 3D bioprinting is regenerative medicine. According to Chris Mason and Peter Dunnill, this involves replacing or regenerating “human cells, tissue, or organs, to restore or establish normal function.” Here, bioprinting can have a central role, especially considering the high demand for organ and tissue transplants worldwide.

In this article, we’ll explore the fascinating and futuristic technology known as 3D bioprinting. We’ll cover its most important aspects, including its main applications, how it works, and how it’s envisioned to work in the future.

Before jumping into the article, it’s worth noting that very few 3D bioprinting applications are ready for patient use, and though the future looks very promising, you shouldn’t get your hopes high on having a new liver or heart produced for you just yet.

WHAT IS 3D BIOPRINTING?

Main Applications

3D bioprinted 

3D bioprinted "living" ear developed in 2016 (Source: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center via Fortune)

The products obtained from bioprinting technologies can mimic both the biological and functional properties of our bodies’ natural-occurring structures and tissues. This can potentially lead to different kinds of applications, but today there’s only one feasible use for bioprinting: pharmaceutical drug testing and research.

While the ultimate goal of 3D bioprinting is the production of artificial organs for transplantation (as we’ll see next), the complexity involved in making them function as real organs is huge. However, scientists today can successfully create biological structures and tissues that imitate natural ones.

So, instead of bioprinting fully functional kidneys, researchers can already create structures that chemically behave like kidney tissue. While far from the original goal, these structures can be used to test new drugs without having to rely on real-life patients that could suffer from unexpected side effects.

Besides the ethical part of it, drug development with bioprinted materials can make pre-clinical trials of new drugs much more cost-effective, helping them to be validated and reach the market sooner, while also potentially reducing the need for animal testing.

Future Applications

Yet, 3D bioprinting started as a regenerative medicine tool. The production of artificial organs for transplantation would solve the issues of high demand and low availability, as well as post-surgical complications associated with organ rejection given that the fabricated organs would be developed using the patient’s own organic material.

While organ replacement is the ultimate objective, in the meantime, tissue repair has been showing very promising results. Instead of creating entire functional organs, the small tissue patches can be potentially used to regenerate and treat organs like the liver and heart. Bone and skin grafting can also benefit from the technology, including surgery for reconstructive and aesthetic purposes.

Both these applications associated with regenerative medicine are still in development, with only a handful of successful cases in research labs and animals such as the University of Toronto’s project of “printing” skin on burn injuries.