What are your areas of the application using the bioprinter?
We are using extrusion-based bioprinting to develop in vitro 3D models for co-culturing specific cancer cells and stromal cells for understanding their molecular interactions and relevance for novel therapeutics screening. Extrusion printing could also be used for printing thermoplastic polymers that can potentially be used for a variety of medical devices/scaffolds, etc. In-house developed bioinks are also optimized for having programmed shape changes post-printing, which is called 4D printing.
What are some of the post-printing processes you carry out (s)? Types of tests etc.
We have done physicochemical, rheological, and biological characterization of the printed polymers/ gels. Specifically, SEM is done to reveal pore architecture, and swelling and degradation studies are performed on the printed gels post-crosslinking. UTM is done for estimating compressive strength and modulus.
Who are the most frequent users of the printer(s)? (E.g., engineers, designers, marketing? Focus groups?)
Engineers (Materials Science, Biotechnology, Polymer science)
Can you give us one or two examples of your printed work? What machine & material(s) did you print this part with? What aided your work?
There are a wide variety of materials to choose from, depending on the printer to be used and the final application.
For BIOX: We use mostly natural biomaterials like alginate, gelatin, etc., and blend the biopolymers with viscosity enhancers to enhance printing resolutions. For the melt extrusion-based thermoplastic print head, synthetic polymers like PCL (polycaprolactone), PLA (polylactic acid), and their blends and composites are used.
For LumenX: We use photocurable polymers like silk fibroin methacrylate (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2022.01.081) and methacrylate ĸ-carrageenan (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.119508) mixed with appropriate concentrations of photoinitiators and photo absorbers to obtain a high resolution of photocured constructs. These can be used for preparing tissue scaffolds by mimicking the complex architectures of native tissues and improving functionalities like osteogenesis, etc.
Where did you find out about our 3D Bioprinting systems?
We were looking for printers that can cater to a wide spectrum of biomedical polymers. We referred to the information available online about these printers and to the research papers that utilized these printers.
Why did you decide to purchase 3D bioprinters? E.g., business expansion, difficulty to control time & cost when outsourced.
For exploring them for in vitro disease model development and tissue engineering constructs development.
What were the challenges in your development? (E.g., design, functionality, implementation, and others)
The key challenges include slicing the structures in the software prior to printing, identifying optimal printing parameters for complex geometries, and occasionally maintaining the aseptic conditions while bioprinting.
What was the strongest feature that convinced you to select CELLINK systems (E.g., material? Quality? Go-to-market time? User-friendliness?)
Its user-friendly interface was attractive.
Why are the characteristics of CELLINK machines important to you? (E.g., resolution, versatility, office environment friendly, accuracy, price, need for your model results, etc.)
Resolution, sterility, User-friendly interface, strong customer support
How did you create your needed products/parts before purchasing the CELLINK system?
By using conventional benchtop fused filament fabrication printers but limited to very few polymers.
How do you see 3D bioprinting impacting your industry in short term and long term? E.g., in 5 years, and in 15 years?
In 5 years, 3D bioprinting can be leveraged as a platform to study multiple cell interactions in flow conditions and develop tissue/organ-on-chip models for automating drug screening. By 15 years it can be used to develop physiologically relevant 3D models to evaluate a drug’s efficacy before preclinical and human trials and may also substitute for pre-clinical models.
