3D Stem Cell Printing for Animal-Free Drug Development

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Printing tissues and mini-organs have recently been achieved by using modified ink-jet printer technology enabling the fieldof biofabrication. The novel method of direct printing live cells opens up new paradigm in tissue science and engineering fordrug discovery and therapeutic applications. We have pioneered the world first valve based bioprinter that is capable ofprinting human embryonic stem cells without damaging the cells while maintaining their biological functions. This projectaims to develop the first commercial stem cell bioprinter baed on the valve-based printing technology, working in aconsortium led by the global player in robotic control (Renishaw Ltd) and a SME (ClydeBiosciences Ltd) specialised indeveloping human heart muscle cells from stem cells for drug testing. We will develop a new type of stem cell printer byintegrating IP protected 3d printing platform from Renishaw with existing valve based cell printing technology. The newplatform will then be validated for producing human heart and liver tissues using human stem cells from leading stem cellcompany Roslin Cellab Ltd) and testing their responses to drugs. The new tool will not only allow us to produce high qualityhuman tissue for potentially more reliable animal free drug testing, but also enable a range of high throughput applicationsfor pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology companies and stem cell biologists.