Application of inkjet printing to tissue engineering

Abstract

Recent advances in organ printing technology for applications relating to medical interventions and organ replacement are described. Organ printing refers to the placement of various cell types into a soft scaffold fabricated according to a computer-aided design template using a single device. Computer aided scaffold topology design has recently gained attention as a viable option to achieve function and mass transport requirements within tissue engineering scaffolds. An exciting advance pioneered in our laboratory is that of simultaneous printing of cells and biomaterials, which allows precise placement of cells and proteins within 3-D hydrogel structures. This advance raises the possibility of spatially controlling not only the scaffold structure, but also the type of tissue that can be grown within the scaffold and the thickness of the tissue as capillaries and vessels could be constructed within the scaffolds. Here we summarize recent advances in printing cells and materials using the same device.

Time-resolved imaging of the laser forward transfer of liquids

“…1 It could also set a new era in tissue engineering applications, allowing the construction of artificial organs combining the deposition of cells and biomaterials, in the so called organ printing. 2 Moreover, among others, it could allow the fabrication of miniaturized devices in areas such as biosensing and biochemical analysis, in which miniaturization presents advantages such as lab-ona-chip integration, multianalyte detection, and minimization of sample volumes. 3 In all the previous cases, and especially in those in which biological elements come into play, the demanded printing technologies must assure the functionality of the transferred specimens, and should try to minimize the difficulties that may appear during the printing process, such as contamination.…”

Biomolecular gradients in cell culture systems

“…34 Defined droplets can be dispensed with a computer-controlled pump 34 or through inkjet printing. 35,36 For all methods the biomolecule diffuses away from its source into the gel forming a concentration gradient over the cells that evolves in both space and time (Fig. 1c).…”

Inkjet Printing Meets Electrochemical Energy Conversion

“…Inkjet printing has been used for instance to fabricate organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), solar cells, supercapacitors, sensing devices and biomaterials. [3][4][5][6] Nowadays, it is used in many research laboratories and it is approaching the industrial production level.…”