A new use of additive manufacturing technology is a
machine called a 3-D Bioplotter that can fabricate a wide range of
biomaterials.
According to Dr.
Vladimir Mironov, director of the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center at
the Medical University of South Carolina, one of the long-term goals is to
print human organs such as kidneys and livers.
The Bioplotter uses a nozzle to print materials within
temperatures ranging from -50 to 150C. The materials include calcium phosphate
ceramics, degradable polylactic/polyglycolic acid polymers, and hydrogels such as
alginate, agarose, fibrin and collagen. 3-D printers, such as the 3-D Bioplotter,
are currently used to manufacture biodegradable scaffolds used for custom bone
implants. In the future, machines may apply advanced microfluidics to print
human stem cells.
|
The nozzle is driven by numerical control code supplied
from a contour file. After transferring 3-D CAD data to a PC provided with the
Bioplotter, it is processed by a special software package.
"Tissue spheroids will be used as building blocks,"
Mironov said in a presentation at Rapid 2010, held in Anaheim, CA May 18-20. He
describes tissue spheroids as living materials with certain measurable,
evolving and potentially controllable composition, material and biological
properties. When they are placed closely together, tissue spheroids undergo
fusion. After a structure is printed it would then go into a bioreactor.
In his presentation Mironov described his efforts to
engineer small segments of a branched vascular tree by using vascular tissue
spheroids. Without vascular systems, the organ wouldn't survive more than five
hours," he says.
That's where the 3-D bioprinters play a key role because
of their ability to create complex internal designs in minute layers.
The economics for the technology are promising considering
that annual dialysis costs $75,000 and many people wait several years before
receiving a transplant.
The Bioplotter shown at Rapid 2010 is a fourth generation
machine that costs 150,000 Euros ($188,000).
The 3D-Bioplotter, developed by a German company called
envisonTEC, operates in sterile environments in a laminar flowbox, which is a
requirement of biofabrication. The technology was invented at the Materials
Research Center in Germany.
Tweet This
7 
