Bioprinting: An Analysis of the New Age of 3D-Printing and Its Engineering
NOTE:
One note before I begin: if you would like a more general analysis of bioprinting and of its future, I recommend reading my past article linked here. But if you’d like a more technical narrative of this exciting field, I recommend you read on.
The Modest Origins of 3-D Bioprinting
The media-attractant field of modern 3D bioprinting holds its modest roots on the campus of Clemson university. On this well-known campus a number of years ago, Professor Thomas Bolin was fascinated by the idea of printing human biomaterial through the use of basic cells. Professor Bolin satisfied this thirst for knowledge through a basic, yet groundbreaking experiment.
To test his hypothesis, Professor Bolin replaced the ink within the cartridges of the printer with basic human biomaterial. After conducting a basic pattern of print, an artificially produced cell tissue was created. The experiment had been a success.
During this time however, the only existing printing infrastructure was that of conventional ink-to-paper use. Nothing profound could be produced through the use of these standard printers.
The major leap in this field came with the arrival of the modern 3D-printer. Now for the first time, mechanically functional objects could be created synthetically, and through the use of CAD. After much of the hype surrounding this technology died down, its potential in the field of bioprinting was finally realized.
Never before have medical researchers been able to design and create synthetic biomaterials other than through the costly method of “test and propagate”. These materials could now be designed in a CAD-like interface, allowing for doctors and researchers to create particular specifications to align with medical preferences.
This was the being of the new medical age.
How does the printer work?
The printer’s method of creation, and the printer itself is quite similar to other forms of 3D-printing, as there is little room for variation in this domain. However, the printer deviates from other common forms of 3D material creation in its printed material.
With most standard 3D-printing methods, the materials vary from forms of plastic like ABS, to metals like steel, depending on the nature of desired functionality. Bioprinting however, takes quite a different approach. Given that the printer needs to output forms of human cell tissue, the substance used to print the organ is made of a collection of human cells and specific proteins that are chosen because of certain properties that allow for the creation of the desired organ.
The material used to print these organs is commonly referred to as ‘bioink’. Despite its simple procedural role in the printing of biomaterials, the material’s production and explicit specifications are anything but the same.
The process that companies in this field go through in order to establish one such ink, often takes years, and with only partial success. Despite this long process, the inks that do come out as successful precisely engineered for complete functionality. The very proteins that make up that ink are specially chosen for compatibility with the desired organ.
Using what is essentially identical to the standard 3D-printing infrastructure, companies in the bioprinting space substitute traditional liquid printing substances with biomaterials.
Barriers to Growth
While the potential for impact in this field has been demonstrated in spades, there are quite a number of obstacles that are holding back its growth.
- Production inefficiencies
As listed above, the process by which companies create these specialized substances is far too inefficient and is heavily comparable to that of drug production. Aspects of this process can see benefit from computer automation, in regards to the tedious investigation of protein compatibility.
- ‘Too many degrees’
Far too many researchers and general scientists must be fully employed for this process to seek any status of reward. Unless this costly need is solved, I find it hard to see the field growing, as the barrier to entry is far too high.
- Lack of education
The education surrounding this field is still not effective. The technology has fallen far too deep under the wing of high flying 3D-printing bird. The field is unknown to those not exiplicitly looking for it. The jargin used in this field are not understood or frequented in any other domain. As I write this article, in fact, the very term ‘bioprinting’ is marked as incorrect, this needs to change.
Areas for Potential Application
Despite the many limitations to growth, the field does have many potential positive applications in the medical field and beyond.
- Quickening the donor process
Far too many lives are lost because of waiting. Waiting for another life to pass with the hope of receiving an agreeable organ for transplant. With bioprinting technology, a machine is able to print one such compatible organ on-demand, and with much precision.
- Increase the efficiency of drug testing
Traditionally, the process by which many pharmaceutical companies produce a profitable drug is one that requires years of human-led research, with countless stages of test and regulatory privisions. By having the ability to synthetically create an organ that would be directly effected by the given drug, these pharmacuetical companies can decrease the length by which they create drugs, and systematically enginneer a greater rate of efficiency.
Takeaways:
- The modest orgins of bioprinting reside on the campus of Clemson University.
- Bioink is the substance used to print biomaterials through the specially engineered printers.
- Specific proteins must be included in the bioink, in order to create the desired organ.
- While there is tremendous opportunity to grow, there is also a collection of barriers stunting the growth of bioprinting.
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