Bioprinting news and discussion

[weatheriscool]

Scientists bioprint tissue-like constructs capable of controlled, complex shape change
https://phys.org/news/2022-03-scientist ... mplex.html
by University of Illinois at Chicago

Where standard 3D printing uses a digital blueprint to manufacture an object out of materials like plastic or resin, 3D bioprinting manufactures biological parts and tissues out of living cells, or bioinks. A fourth dimension—shape transformation over time—can be achieved by incorporating materials that enable printed constructs to morph multiple times in a preprogrammed or on-demand manner in response to external signals.

Bioprinting 4D constructs provides opportunities for scientists to better mimic the shape changes that occur during the development, healing and normal function of real tissues and fabricate complex structures.

A new study in the science journal Advanced Materials describes the development of a new cell-laden bioink, comprised of tightly-packed, flake-shaped microgels and living cells, for bioprinting 4D constructs. This new system enables the production of cell-rich bioconstructs that can change shape under physiological conditions.

[weatheriscool]

Turmeric compound helps grow engineered blood vessels and tissues
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-turmeric- ... ssues.html
by Holly Ober, University of California - Riverside

A finding by UC Riverside bioengineers could hasten development of lab-grown blood vessels and other tissues to replace and regenerate damaged tissues in human patients. The results are published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

Curcumin, a compound found in turmeric, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and is known to suppress angiogenesis in malignant tumors. Bioengineers at UC Riverside have now discovered that when delivered through magnetic hydrogels into stem cell cultures this versatile compound paradoxically also promotes the secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor, or VEGF, that helps vascular tissues grow.

Curcumin's possible use for vascular regeneration has been suspected for some time but has not been well studied. Huinan Liu, a bioengineering professor in UCR's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, led a project to investigate curcumin's regenerative properties by coating magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with the compound and mixing them into a biocompatible hydrogel.

When cultured with stem cells derived from bone marrow, the magnetic hydrogel gradually released the curcumin without injuring the cells. Compared to hydrogels embedded with bare nanoparticles, the group of hydrogels loaded with curcumin-coated nanoparticles showed a higher amount of VEGF secretion.

"Our study shows that curcumin released from magnetic hydrogels promotes the cells to secrete VEGF, which is one of the most critical growth factors to enhance the formation of new blood vessels," said co-author Changlu Xu, a doctoral candidate in Liu's group who focused on hydrogel research.

[weatheriscool]

Cellular “Glue” to Regenerate Tissues, Heal Wounds, Regrow Nerves
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2022/12/42441 ... row-nerves

Researchers at UC San Francisco have engineered molecules that act like “cellular glue,” allowing them to direct in precise fashion how cells bond with each other. The discovery represents a major step toward building tissues and organs, a long-sought goal of regenerative medicine.

Adhesive molecules are found naturally throughout the body, holding its tens of trillions of cells together in highly organized patterns. They form structures, create neuronal circuits and guide immune cells to their targets. Adhesion also facilitates communication between cells to keep the body functioning as a self-regulating whole.

In a new study, published in the Dec. 12, 2022, issue of Nature, researchers engineered cells containing customized adhesion molecules that bound with specific partner cells in predictable ways to form complex multicellular ensembles.

[wjfox]

I think this thread could perhaps be merged with Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine News and Discussions.

[weatheriscool]

I think this thread could perhaps be merged with Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine News and Discussions.

Isn't this different in some ways? It could be the same but with slight difference in approach.

[weatheriscool]

Researchers use 3D bioprinting to create eye tissue
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-12- ... issue.html
by National Eye Institute

Scientists used patient stem cells and 3D bioprinting to produce eye tissue that will advance understanding of the mechanisms of blinding diseases. The research team from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, printed a combination of cells that form the outer blood-retina barrier—eye tissue that supports the retina's light-sensing photoreceptors. The technique provides a theoretically unlimited supply of patient-derived tissue to study degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

"We know that AMD starts in the outer blood-retina barrier," said Kapil Bharti, Ph.D., who heads the NEI Section on Ocular and Stem Cell Translational Research. "However, mechanisms of AMD initiation and progression to advanced dry and wet stages remain poorly understood due to the lack of physiologically relevant human models." The outer blood-retina barrier consists of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), separated by Bruch's membrane from the blood-vessel rich choriocapillaris. Bruch's membrane regulates the exchange of nutrients and waste between the choriocapillaris and the RPE. In AMD, lipoprotein deposits called drusen form outside Bruch's membrane, impeding its function. Over time, the RPE break down leading to photoreceptor degeneration and vision loss.

[weatheriscool]

Simple but revolutionary modular organoids created with hydrogels
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-simple-re ... ogels.html
by RIKEN

A team led by Masaya Hagiwara of RIKEN national science institute in Japan has developed an ingenious device, using layers of hydrogels in a cube-like structure, that allows researchers to construct complex 3D organoids without using elaborate techniques. The group also recently demonstrated the ability to use the device to build organoids that faithfully reproduce the asymmetric genetic expression that characterizes the actual development of organisms. The device has the potential to revolutionize the way we test drugs, and could also provide insights into how tissues develop and lead to better techniques for growing artificial organs.

Scientists have long struggled to create organoids—organ-like tissues grown in the laboratory—to replicate actual biological development. Creating organoids that function similarly to real tissues is important for developing medicines, since it is necessary to understand how drugs move through various tissues. Organoids also help us gain insights into the process of development itself, and are a stepping stone on the way to growing whole organs that can help patients.

[weatheriscool]

Entering a new era of 3D printing for DNAs and proteins

by Pohang University of Science and TechnologyEntering a new era of 3D printing for DNAs and proteins
https://phys.org/news/2023-04-era-3d-dnas-proteins.html

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a useful technique that has been widely utilized in our lives, ranging from reconstructive plastic surgery to artificial organ production. However, many biopolymers, such as nucleic acids, polysaccharides, and proteins, cannot be readily constructed into a desired 3D shape at the submicron- or nanoscale due to their inherent rheological and structural properties. Can we truly achieve the free-form and high-resolution structuring of various biomolecules using 3D printing technology?

A team of researchers from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at POSTECH led by Professor Seung Soo Oh, Professor Emeritus Jung Ho Je, Dr. Moon-Jung Yong, and Ph.D. candidates Un Yang and Byunghwa Kang has developed a groundbreaking 3D printing technology that directly allows precise writing and patterning of various biopolymers with full mechanical stability and functional integrity.

Their findings have been published in Advanced Science.

The research team has presented a novel 3D printing strategy that preserves the folding structure and molecular function of various biopolymers by sequentially confining, evaporating, and solidifying a biopolymer-containing solution.

Irrespective of biopolymer types, this technique can produce 3D biopolymeric architectures with precisely-controlled size and geometry at submicron resolution.

Furthermore, it allows the printed biopolymers to exhibit their own desired functions, thereby achieving pin-point localization of spatiotemporal biofunctions, including molecular recognition and catalytic reactions.

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a useful technique that has been widely utilized in our lives, ranging from reconstructive plastic surgery to artificial organ production. However, many biopolymers, such as nucleic acids, polysaccharides, and proteins, cannot be readily constructed into a desired 3D shape at the submicron- or nanoscale due to their inherent rheological and structural properties. Can we truly achieve the free-form and high-resolution structuring of various biomolecules using 3D printing technology?

A team of researchers from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at POSTECH led by Professor Seung Soo Oh, Professor Emeritus Jung Ho Je, Dr. Moon-Jung Yong, and Ph.D. candidates Un Yang and Byunghwa Kang has developed a groundbreaking 3D printing technology that directly allows precise writing and patterning of various biopolymers with full mechanical stability and functional integrity.

Their findings have been published in Advanced Science.

The research team has presented a novel 3D printing strategy that preserves the folding structure and molecular function of various biopolymers by sequentially confining, evaporating, and solidifying a biopolymer-containing solution.

Irrespective of biopolymer types, this technique can produce 3D biopolymeric architectures with precisely-controlled size and geometry at submicron resolution.

Furthermore, it allows the printed biopolymers to exhibit their own desired functions, thereby achieving pin-point localization of spatiotemporal biofunctions, including molecular recognition and catalytic reactions.

[weatheriscool]

New temperature-controlled 3D-printing bioink safer for artificial organs
By Paul McClure
April 16, 2023
https://newatlas.com/medical/new-temper ... effective/

3D bioprinting is gaining popularity as a way of treating disease and injury by producing three-dimensional living tissues and organs. However, to work effectively, the “inks” used for bioprinting must be firmed up using UV light or chemical processes. But now researchers have developed a new bioink that hardens in response to body temperature, making it safer for potential use in artificial organs and tissue regeneration applications.

Bioprinting uses 3D-printable bioinks, substances – usually containing cells – that cause the body to elicit a biological response aimed at tissue regeneration. Bioinks must have particular mechanical and biological properties to be used in extrusion-based bioprinters due to the high stresses of the 3D-printing process. They also need to be biocompatible and biodegradable.

Current hydrogel-based bioinks must undergo a photocuring process before being used in the body. Photocuring causes crosslinking, the formation of strong, permanent covalent bonds between polymer chains in the hydrogel that increases its mechanical strength and stability under physiological conditions. The photoinitiators introduced into the hydrogel to enable photocuring are activated by ultraviolet (UV) light, but UV light can damage the cells’ DNA. Chemical crosslinking, an alternative to photocuring, uses a reagent (crosslinker) to achieve the same result.

[weatheriscool]

Humans may soon grow new teeth, with promising drug trial set
By Bronwyn Thompson
July 17, 2023

Some sharks get a new set of teeth every few weeks, while crocodiles can go through thousands of chompers in their long lifetimes. Yet the ability to endlessly replace our pearly whites is something that’s eluded us and nearly all other mammals. By the time our 32 ‘adult’ teeth grow in, that’s as good as it gets.

Now, a Japanese team of scientists is set to trial an experimental drug that would allow humans to grow completely new teeth.

A clinical trial scheduled for July 2024 will initially be for participants with tooth agenesis, a genetic condition that results in the absence of teeth, but the scientists have a view to making the treatment available for general use by as soon as 2030.

"The idea of growing new teeth is every dentist's dream.” said Katsu Takahashi, lead researcher and head of the dentistry and oral surgery department at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka. “I’ve been working on this since I was a graduate student. I was confident I'd be able to make it happen.”

https://newatlas.com/medical/humans-gro ... rug-trial/