Affordable bioprinting: tissue at the touch of a button

Printing a living tissue construct with a 3D printer from the electronics store? Until now, this was impossible. Bioprinting required expensive specialised equipment. Researchers have now succeeded in modifying a simple 3D printer so that it can create biological structures at the touch of a button. This is an opportunity for small laboratories to conduct research in this area too.

Benedikt Kaufmann, research associate at the Centre for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (CANTER) at Munich University of Applied Sciences, and his team have developed a cost-effective solution based on a commercially available 3D printer.

The production of functional tissue, such as bone or muscle structures, is a challenge. A key problem lies in creating suitable conditions for the printing process, particularly in terms of temperature and humidity. Kaufmann’s team has managed to control these parameters by using heating foils and water-soaked cellulose to achieve a constant environment of 37 degrees Celsius and over 90 per cent humidity. These adjustments make it possible to print biomaterials on a translucent glass platform, which is crucial for further examination of the structures under the microscope.

“But despite all our successes, we are still a long way from our goal of producing customised tissue on a larger scale. In order to further develop tissue engineering, researchers around the world need to cooperate, generate and share knowledge,” emphasises the bioengineer at the Centre for Applied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (CANTER) at Munich University of Applied Sciences.

The process, which is based on masked stereolithography, uses LEDs and a liquid crystal display to project precise light patterns onto the printed material. This allows proteins to be cross-linked in a targeted manner and cured in three-dimensional structures. Initial tests have shown that the structures produced with the modified printer can vary in their stiffness, which is crucial for the production of tissue with different mechanical properties, such as bones or muscles.

“Our tests have shown that the modified 3D printer can be used to produce organic structural scaffolds with varying degrees of stiffness – this is important because bone tissue, for example, requires a higher degree of hardness than muscle tissue,” says Kaufmann.

Kaufmann’s innovation opens up new access to bioprinting technologies, especially for smaller laboratories. With an open-source construction manual, researchers worldwide can build their own low-cost bioprinters and thus further advance tissue engineering.