Bioprinter

The disparity between the demand for organ transplantation and the number of available organs has long been realized. Needs such as these have led to the emergence and evolution of tissue engineering, where a wide range of disciplines including biochemistry, engineering and material science have been integrated and applied.

               It uses printing devices that deposit biological materials. Bio-printing constructs 3D artificial tissues by computer devices.Bio-printing technology is developed by Gabor Forgacs, a biophysicist from University of Missouri in the US. Bioprinters can print complex 3D structures with the combinations of “bioink” and “biopaper.” Today, bio-printing is still at development stage and is used as scientific tools. In long-term, this technology is expected to be used for creating replacement organs and human tissues from raw biological materials.

Major components of Bioprinters:

An organ is cut horizontally so that scientists can see an array of cells on the surface. The cells are then collected to make BioInk, which change the shape of cells to spheroids. Then the BioInk is placed inside the bio-printer. The spheroids are dropped into hydrogel, which acts as a placeholder.  This step is repeated several times to make layers of spheroids which eventually form a 3D tissue.

Bioprinting Process:

Organovo’s bioprinting process centers around the identification of key architectural and compositional elements of a target tissue, and the creation of a design that can be utilized by a bioprinter to generate that tissue in the laboratory environment.

Once a tissue design is established, the first step is to develop the bioprocess protocols required to generate the multi-cellular building blocks—also called bio-ink—from the cells that will be used to build the target tissue.

The bio-ink building blocks are then dispensed from a bioprinter, using a layer-by-layer approach that is scaled for the target output. Bio-inert hydrogel components may be utilized as supports, as tissues are built up vertically to achieve three-dimensionality, or as fillers to create channels or void spaces within tissues to mimic features of native tissue.

The bioprinting process can be tailored to produce tissues in a variety of formats, from micro-scale tissues contained in standard multi-well tissue culture plates, to larger structures suitable for placement onto bioreactors for biomechanical conditioning prior to use.

Products and Company

1.)     The main company for this technology is Organovo. This company focuses on the research and development on bio printing.

2.)     NovoGen MMX Bioprinter™ is the main machine that has been developed to meet challenges in biological research in regards to bio printing.

3.) The main Bioprinter pioneer: Japanese scientist Makoto Nakamura’s modified inkjet technology.

 4.)   In 2008, he created a working bio printer that prints out bio tubing similar to a blood vessel. 

  Development Cost

1.       A bio printer requires huge informational contents of human tissues to print organs.

2.       Organovo spends about $15.2 million of funding to further research bio printing and requires financial help of investors and donors as well.

3.       Information that is needed for bio-printing is expensive. For example, 1Pb of human tissue contents is approximately $71,680.

4.       Companies need to spend additional fees on hiring the experts who can operate the bio printer.

Advantages: 

1.)          Replace human tissue by full body transplant

2.)        Allows scientists to eliminate the wait list of organ transplants     

3.)        Higher survival rate of printed cells

4.)        Offers high precise resolution

Disadvantages:

1.)            The replacement of molecules or cells within the reconstructed organ is not sure about whether they can fit into a human body as functional tissue

2.)          Large-scale construction increases the complexity associated with transplantation

3.)        Printing capabilities of complicated tissues

4.)        The necessary specifications required for given printing construction (for therapy design, need to be precise and specific.

Future Use and Technology

1.     It could be utilized to create entire living organs such as heart, liver and kidneys

2.     Creation of functional human beings, which can be printed on demand and reach maturity in few weeks.

3.     Newly developed drugs can be tested out on manufactured cells than on animals and humans. It will lead to a huge reduction in cost and time. 

4.     Situ bio printing works by imprinting cells directly onto human body.

Barriers to Adoption

1.   Bio-printing conflicts with moralities and cultural and religious beliefs.

2.   Bio-printing will increase life span of people on resource- limited planet earth

3.   Increase in world population.

4.   “Fountain of Youth”, people will not grow older and die naturally.