New Bio Ink And Biological 3D Printing

New Bio Ink And Biological 3D Printing

While practical biological 3D printing of human tissues and organs does hold great promise in medicine, the printed materials typically have a fairly short shelf life. However, an experimental new bio-ink allows 3D-bioprinted tissue to be stored in a frozen state for months. Currently used printing materials, new biological 3D printing tissue must currently be implanted within no more than a few hours to a few days after creation.

In cases where tissue is expensive biological 3D printing in one place but needs to be used on a patient in another, this limitation is a big headache. It also means that something like a replacement organ can't be printed in advance using new biological 3D printing and then put on hand for immediate implantation when needed. Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital, part of Harvard University, have created the new freezable bio-ink to solve this big problem. Tissue made from it can not only be frozen for months but can also be thawed and ready for use in minutes.

This bio-ink for new biological 3D printing is just like other more traditional bio-inks. It consists of scaffold-like gelatin matrices embedded in living cells. However, its special ingredients are cryogens, which prevent osmotic shock and limit the formation of ice crystals that damage cell membranes. Assistant Professor Yu Shrike Zhang, lead scientist of the study, said the agents included the drugs dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and maltose. The bio-ink is deposited directly from the nozzle of the practical biological 3D printing onto a cold plate at -20 ºC and freezes instantaneously. This process overcomes the limitations of existing bioinks, some of which may be too soft and fluid to form the desired item.