Engineering a Model to Study Viral Infections: Bioprinting, Microfluidics, and Organoids to Defeat Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Abstract

While the number of studies related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is constantly growing, it is essential to provide a framework of modeling viral infections. Therefore, this review aims to describe the background presented by earlier used models for viral studies and an approach to design an “ideal” tissue model for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Due to the previous successful achievements in antiviral research and tissue engineering, combining the emerging techniques such as bioprinting, microfluidics, and organoid formation are considered to be one of the best approaches to form in vitro tissue models. The fabrication of an integrated multi-tissue bioprinted platform tailored for SARS-CoV-2 infection can be a great breakthrough that can help defeat coronavirus disease in 2019.

Role of biomaterials in the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and study of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

“…Pertinent tissue engineering work in combating the Coronavirus can be categorized as in vitro models to evaluate the proposed treatment efficiency, drug delivery approaches, and vaccines [18]. Among various tissue engineering techniques, 3D bioprinting [21][22][23], organoid engineering [24,25], and microfluidic organ-on-a-chip systems [26][27][28] are accepted to be the best approaches to design and develop effective in vitro tissue models [29].…”

“…Also, design and fabrication of a 3D bioprinted multi-tissue platforms adapted for viral infection can be excellent tools for the study and development of treatment for COVID-19. 3D tissue models can be better than 2D models for studying COVID-19 due to their native tissue biomimicking characteristics [29]. 3D-engineered tissues can either be: (1) scaffoldbased or (2) scaffold-free using methods such as 3D bioprinting [65] and cell self-organization to produce spheroids and organoids [29].…”

“…3D tissue models can be better than 2D models for studying COVID-19 due to their native tissue biomimicking characteristics [29]. 3D-engineered tissues can either be: (1) scaffoldbased or (2) scaffold-free using methods such as 3D bioprinting [65] and cell self-organization to produce spheroids and organoids [29]. In 3D bioprinting method, bioink composed of cell-laden hydrogels are deposited in a controlled fashion.…”

“…OoC systems can recapitulate human organ physiology, disease states, and therapeutic responses to drugs with high accuracy [96,97]. Also, microfluidic-based 3D models and organ-on-a-chip systems provide biomimetic environment with air and fluid flows typical of what normally occurs in the lung, and can be useful for studying viral infection [29]. Therefore, the development of OoC-based technology to study the response of human tissues and organs to SARS-CoV-2 is urgently needed [98].…”

Harnessing biomaterials for therapeutic strategies against COVID-19

“…This shortcoming highlights the crucial need for the design of more accurate drug screening models, new drug delivery platforms, and innovative antiviral strategies. Fortunately, the field of biomaterials has played a key role in the development of life-saving solutions in response to viral diseases [ 30 , 31 ], spanning from virus-deactivating surface coatings [ 25 ] to treatment strategies and vaccines [ 32 , 33 ]. Biomaterials are poised to meet these challenges and help us get through this crisis and prevent future ones (Fig.…”