3D Bioprinting: a Miraculous Technology of Custom-made Organ Tissues
The current thrust research area of 3D bioprinting had revolutionized tissue engineering and the future of medical sciences research. Through innovative bioprinting approach, various vascularized 3D tissue and organs are prepared for regenerative medicine and drug testing.
Bio printed tissues can be used in the field of drug discovery, enabling researchers to test and evaluate the efficacy of the drug in earlier stage providing realistic models of cellular functions. It can minimize drug failures, reduce the use of animals and helpful in reaching clinical trial phase faster.
Bioprinting is a technology in which material like bio-ink is used to create tissue-like structures layer-by-layer which imitate nature tissues/organs combining cells and growth factors.
Bioprinting works similarly like conventional 3D printing technology, and recent the production of cartilage is also made using it which is used in reconstruction and regeneration surgeries.
During deficiency of living tissues and organs, this promising technology offers massive opportunity in bioprinting tissue-like structures which mimic actual micro as well as the macro environment of human tissues and organs. It can play a crucial role in the testing of disease treatment modalities using artificially affected tissue and organs.
Currently, its research is in its infancy stage of development and demonstrated its success in the area of skin as well as bones; it can still prove useful in eradicating the headache associated with organ donation and transplantations, solving the problem at patient-specific levels, even though criticized at ethical and moral standards.
Main application areas of 3D bioprinting are in the fields of:
- Development of artificial vital organs
- Pharmaceutical Drug Testing
- Cosmetic Surgery
- Bone Tissue Regenerations
- Prosthetics and Dental Applications
- Producing Foodstuffs such as Meat and Vegetables, Etc.
Researchers throughout the world are working on this laboratory-engineered human tissue build-up of the precise 3D architecture of a variety of cell types to benefit the society, few of such examples are Jennifer Lewis’ lab at Harvard in 2016 has developed a novel printing method that uses ‘inks’ consisting of kidney cells and surrounding material.
A San Diego-based bio-printing company named Organovo has already demonstrated that it can 3D print human liver tissue patches, implanting them into mice and proved to be functionally beneficial.
A biotech start-up named Biolife4D, which hopes to create little hearts for testing in small animals shortly with the help of several research groups.
A research group, of Che Connon’s from Newcastle University, have been able to 3D print a human cornea by combining stem cells with alginate and collagen, they’ve created a unique bio-ink that can be extruded in circles to form the shape of the cornea in less than 10 minutes.
A team from the University of Glasgow in 2017 had developed a new technique called “nanokicking” to grow 3D samples of mineralided bone for the first time. Using this method, the researchers were able to turn stem cells taken from human donors into 3D bone grafts, and it will be used in the application by 2020.
3D bioprinting is a breakthrough technology and proved very beneficial in the field of regenerative medicine and organ transplantation, hoping to serve the society soon...