University of Birmingham develops new 3D bioprinting method for health

Experts at the University of Birmingham are developing new methods for 3D bioprinting to improve health outcomes – potentially saving lives by reducing costs and speeding up the creation of tissue-compatible synthetically engineered organs.

3D bioprinting has been used for this purpose for many years, but so far it has failed to match body tissue – leaving patients to wait for natural organ transplants, relying on immunosuppressants and There is a risk of infection, as well as an increased risk of cancer.

Creating microfluidic tissues could solve this problem but is currently expensive and labor-intensive to manufacture. Researchers from Birmingham, working with partners at the University of Huddersfield and the Polytechnic University of Milan, have developed an agile manufacturing pipeline that could cut costs – increasing the chances of widespread adoption. Their paper is published in Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Goushihan Poologasundarampillai, Associate Professor in Biomaterials and Biomanufacturing at the University of Birmingham, said: “Organ transplants have saved many lives and millions of pounds for the UK NHS, but every day, four people in the UK die while on the waiting list.

“There is a dire need for artificially engineered organs and tissue grafts that take successfully without the need for immunosuppression. Our breakthrough will help lead to the widespread adoption of microfluidic-based 3D bioprinting for building blood vessels, tissues and organs.” Helping to save lives across the UK and beyond.

The new manufacturing pipeline combines additive manufacturing with innovative design approaches to simplify and advance high-value manufacturing, while reducing production costs by a few fold.

“Advantages of our technique include rapid integration of modular microfluidic components such as mixers and flow-focusing capability, highlighting the flexibility and versatility of our approach.”

Dr Amirpasha Moetazedian, Lecturer in Medical Engineering at the University of Huddersfield, said: “Producing complex microfluidic devices at a fraction of the cost will open up new opportunities in a wide range of applications from tissue scaffolds, cell culture systems, body-on-a- . On-Chip Devices, Biochemical Sensors and Bio-catalysis.”

The Birmingham researchers are also helping to advance related 3D-printing innovation within bone tissue engineering for in vitro modelling, which is becoming increasingly important in drug discovery and the development of new therapies for bone diseases.

Their new review, published in Advanced Materials, focuses on using hydrogels and bioprinting to create artificial stem cell niches for in vitro bone tissue engineering models. This highlights the main interrelated barriers to bone tissue engineering, including the difficulty in reproducing the complex and dynamic bone architecture and organization and providing appropriate organ-level stimulation.

The review provides insight into how these barriers can be overcome with developments in hydrogel formulations and 3D bioprinting—in particular, the development of novel hydrogel formulations that combine natural biochemical cues with synthetic polymers. Combines biopolymers.