B9Creations & Ronawk accelerate medicine with 3D hydrogels using the bioprinting process

Ronawk, an advanced tissue mimetic technology company, has appointed B9Creations as its global additive manufacturing partner following a joint development effort to automate and mass produce Ronawk Bio-Blocks.

Ronawk Bio-Blocks provide an environment that allows cells to form tissue naturally. This results in tissue that is very similar in architecture and function to the body’s own tissue. This leads to high metabolic activity, viability and proliferation of cells, which improves the quality and quantity of biologics production. These advances are crucial for the development of new therapies, diagnostics and protective measures against biological threats.

“Collaboration is critical for turning research advances into commercial therapies rapidly. The complexity and diversity of modalities is so big that nobody can do it alone. The future of next-generation therapies is not only about discovering them but manufacturing them in a better way. We needed a company who was responsive, collaborative, and had deep systems expertise in how their hardware, software and our proprietary bio-ink worked together to deliver a solution at scale. Leveraging B9Creations’ technology and consultative services, we produced in 6 hours what we used to produce in a month,” said Ronawk Co-Founder and CTO Heather Decker.

Plastic has been used in cell culture since the 1950s, despite being 100,000 times stiffer than soft tissue environments such as skin or brain. Since the 1980s, scientists have been able to grow 3D organoid structures using gel-based scaffolds, but these have numerous problems, such as the use of animal tumor tissues and inconsistent results.

Ronawk’s Bio-Blocks offer a solution to these problems. They allow cells to cultivate microenvironments that faithfully mimic the growth of tissues and cells outside the body. This facilitates the introduction of different stimuli, supports the co-culture of multiple cell types and enables the isolation of cells for detailed analysis. In addition, the Bio-Blocks provide an ideal environment for real-time studies of cell function and enable imaging throughout the process.

“As a biotechnology company with a mission to accelerate next generation therapies, we needed to partner with a company that is as innovative and agile as we are in order to achieve our potential. B9Creations’ solutions business model and customizable hardware and software toolset enabled our team to move this effort from R&D into production and commercialization which will democratize access to healthcare research worldwide,” said Tom Jantsch, Ronawk President and COO.

Ronawk stands out in tissue engineering with its innovative platform that combines both scaffold-based and scaffold-free approaches. This technology enables cells to first utilize a scaffold and then form organ-like structures, promoting healthier cell growth and authentic cell communication.

“Bioprinting is a key area of focus for B9Creations, developing high-precision, customizable 3D printing solutions that enable next-generation therapies. Our technology partnership with Ronawk is already revolutionizing personalized medicine with root cause analysis of specific cancers at top-tier healthcare institutions, like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, leading to targeted, personalized treatment for patients, by enabling cell culture that mimics an in-vivo environment outside the body without the need to continually extract tissue from patients. It’s inspiring and humbling to see the human impact of this technological advancement,” said Shon Anderson, B9Creations CEO.

The collaboration between Ronawk and B9Creations will advance the future of tissue engineering and personalized medicine, offering promising prospects for research and therapy.