Bioprinting: Revolutionizing Transplants
Everybody loves 3D printers.
Almost every high school in the nation has an Ultimaker and hardly a day goes by without someone claiming that soon you’ll be 3D printing a car, or a house, or even an organ.
Yes. An organ.
Though we are at least a decade away from seeing 3D printed houses or cars, organ and tissue printing is beginning to take off. Called bioprinting, this procedure has the capacity to radically improve the lives of millions of people worldwide.
Bioprinting is a specialized additive manufacturing(read: 3D Printing) procedure that uses organic materials to create artificial parts that can be used in living organisms.
There are very few differences between a bioprinter and a regular 3D printer. One is that a bioprinter uses a bioink instead of plastic. Bioinks are comprised of two different components: a gel, and a mixture of cells. In most cases, these cells are sourced from the patient and then grown in cultures. However, CellInk, an American company, has created a bioink of the same name which is universal-meaning that it can be used in anyone.
Another difference is that there are more steps involved in bioprinting than there are in regular 3D printing. The process of bioprinting can be split up into five basic stages: scanning, modeling, printing, incubating, insertion.
Stage 1: Scanning
The first step to printing something out is to take a picture of it. The scanning method that is used will vary based on the item that is being printed out. For example, say we were printing out a prosthetic outer ear, the first step would be to take a CT scan of the area. For other injuries inside the body, MRI or SPECT scans might be necessary.
Stage 2: Modeling
The second step is to convert the image produced by the scan into a 3-dimensional model that the printer can then print out. This has to be done in two steps. First, the model has to go from 2D to 3D; this is relatively easy with any 3D modeling software (such as Solidworks). Next, the 3D model has to then be converted into a visualized motion program or a VMP. A VMP tells the printer three things; in what direction to print, the speed of printing, and how to layer the bioink
With this done, the printer can start printing.
Stage 3: Printing
Once a VMP is created, the printer will start printing at an indicated point. Some bioprinters alternate between layers of gel and bioink in order to keep the fragile cellular structures from moving/breaking apart. Others use a suspension of the bioink within a gel to create the end product faster.
Though most bioprinters can use only one kind of ink at a time, some printers such as CellInk’s BIO X6™ can use multiple bioinks simultaneously. This allows for complex extracellular matrices (read: 3D frameworks that fill themselves) to be created and seeded with stem cells, cutting a lot of time and cost.
The printing process, depending on the item being printed, can take anywhere from an hour to more than a day. The more complex the print is, the longer it will take to be printed.
Stage 4: Incubation
After the tissue is printed out, it has to be incubated in a bioreactor for some time. This step is crucial because it lets the printed-out product develop and grow for a time before being implanted into a human being. If there are any defects or unforeseen side effects, they would be revealed in an environment where they cannot harm anyone.
Stage 5: Insertion
The final stage is the actual placing of the 3D-printed tissue into the patient. This is currently only done in studies and on patients who are missing exterior tissues like the outer ear or nose cartilage. However, as biodegradable extracellular matrices have been used with success, there is strong reason to believe that bioprinted materials can be successfully used on patients.
Impact
Bioprinted organs will solve two of the biggest problems we face today when it comes to organ transplants: availability and rejection.
Bioprinting will solve the problem of availability because once the process is fine-tuned and commercialized, organs can be manufactured on-demand. This would be massively helpful in the near future as the number of people in the United States with kidney failures is expected to skyrocket due to dietary problems.
In traditional organ replacements, there is a possibility that the recipient’s body will reject the donor’s organ, which in turn would lead to their body executing an autoimmune response and potentially killing the patient. This risk is completely eliminated with the usage of bioprinters. In most cases, the bioink is created from the individual's own cells, which the body would not be able to tell apart from those already in the body.
Bioprinting has the potential to save millions of lives around the world. It is by no means a perfect science, but judging by recent breakthroughs such as the printing of a functional lung-like organ, it is on the verge of changing medicine forever.
Before you go…
I hope you enjoyed reading this article! I’m a 15-year-old innovator at The Knowledge Society committed to changing the world using new technologies like AI, Gene Editing, and BCIs. If you want to learn more or are interested in talking, email me at veda.bhattaram@gmail.com
