A Promethean Construct: Formulation of a bioink with human donor-derived liver dECM & liver organoids

Liver diseases account for two million deaths worldwide each year, and current treatments are limited. 3D bioprinting is a promising technology, that has recently been investigated to tackle this challenge. However, the cells and hydrogels used for bioprinting are not human-derived and do not replicate the natural <i>in vivo</i> environment. The...

4D bioprinting for cartilage tissue engineering: a controlled shape transformation approach

Cartilage degeneration is a major cause of chronic disability and its treatment usually involves highly invasive procedures. To address this issue, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting was introduced as a promising tissue engineering approach. However, the structures fabricated with this method are static and lack the dynamic response of native...

The Development of a Cartilage Specific Bioink for Three-Dimensional Bioprinting

Bioprinting is a promising technique that has the ability to generate complex tissue structures for articular cartilage (AC) repair and regeneration. However, most biomaterials used for bioprinting are incapable of representing the complexity of native extracellular matrix (ECM). In this study, a novel cartilage specific bioink has been...

4D Bioprinting: Temporal Stiffening of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Laden Hyaluronic Acid-Alginate Scaffolds for Cartilage Constructs

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting studies the initial condition of printed constructs, which makes construct static, and neglects the dynamic changes in natural tissue conformation during tissue repair, disease progression and regeneration processes. Therefore, the concept of four-dimensional (4D) bioprinting has been introduced that allows for...

3D printing living materials: Optimizing the longevity and photosynthetic ability of microalgae structures

This graduation report aimed to improve the mechanical properties of a sustainable 3D print material made of microalgae, in order to create an macro-porous 3D structure with enhanced longevity and photosynthetic activity. This research builds upon the alginate based bio-ink from Balasubramanian et al (2021). Their material proposal lacked...

Bioprinting of Zonal Cartilage Scaffolds Using Different Cell Densities: A biomimetic approach on cartilage regeneration

The use of allografts for the treatment of critical size cartilage defects holds disadvantages including the limited number of donors and the compromised chondrocyte viability. These limitations have prompted researchers to explore different options, such as cartilage engineering. Bioprinting, a promising tissue engineering technique, could be...