Mist-based printhead technologies for bioprinting of tissue constructs

生物打印领域的主要目标是生产三维（3D）结构以支持活细胞生长-这是组织工程和生物医学研究的基础。这种3D结构的制造包括使用定位系统和材料沉积机构将生物相容性材料（生物油墨）逐层沉积到打印台上。我们开发了一种先进的雾基 本发明涉及用于3D生物打印应用的打印头组件，其解决了当前商业生物打印系统的主要限制之一。我们的系统使用雾输送和收集机制来交联挤出和液滴打印头内的水凝胶生物墨水，因此提供了市场上任何其他系统都无法提供的多功能性和打印质量。正如我们的市场研究以及该领域主要公司和专家的反馈所支持的那样，该技术对于打印头的销售以及伴随的高度专业化的水凝胶生物墨水具有巨大的商业化潜力。为了满足行业标准并确保未来的商业成功，正如第一阶段I2 I提案中所提出的那样，必须在几个方面改进和验证当前原型的性能。我们的研究目标是：1）优化基于雾的打印头以实现稳健的性能，2）为基于雾的打印头增加多材料打印能力，3）开发与高通量液体筛选兼容的打印头，以及4）生产多细胞包封构建体和微珠。

The principal goal in the field of bioprinting is to produce three-dimensional (3D) constructs to support living cell growth - a basis for study in tissue engineering and biomedicine. The fabrication of such 3D structures consists of layer-by-layer deposition of biocompatible materials (bioinks) onto a printing stage using a positioning system and a material deposition mechanism. We have developed an advanced mist-based printhead assembly for 3D bioprinting applications that addresses one of the major limitations of current commercial bioprinting systems. Our system uses a mist delivery and collection mechanism to crosslink hydrogel bioinks within both extrusion and drop-based printheads and therefore offers a level of versatility and print quality that is not offered by any other system on the market. As supported by our market study and feedback from major companies and experts in the field, the technology has tremendous commercialization potential for both sales of the printhead as well as accompanying highly specialized hydrogel bioinks. To meet the standards of the industry and secure the future commercial success, as proposed in this phase I I2I proposal, the performance of the current prototype must be improved and validated in several areas. Our research aims are: 1) optimize the mist-based printhead to achieve a robust performance, 2) add multi-material printing capacity to the mist-based printhead, 3) develop printheads compatible with high throughput liquid screening and 4) produce multi-cell encapsulating constructs and microbeads.