SBIR Phase II: A Plug-and-Play Bioprinting Educational Toolkit for Next Generation Science and Engineering Students

三维(3D)生物打印技术正在生物医学和生物技术行业的多个领域产生新的方法和创新。持续不断的进步正在推动生物打印市场的增长，从而在不久的将来创造出对新工作技能的需求。为了满足行业需求，学校必须准备好合适的工具和设备来培训下一代学生。此外，增加教育中技术的可获得性有助于增强学生的能力，扩大他们的科学创造力。然而，目前的3D生物打印仪器主要是为工业使用而设计的，而且价格昂贵。技术障碍进一步阻碍了许多学校获得入学资格。为了使下一代科学家和工程师的技术创新真正民主化，需要一个迎合教育市场的可持续解决方案。该SBIR第二阶段项目旨在解决这一机会差距，并将创建一种负担得起的3D生物打印设备和教育工具包，以满足高中和大学的需求。拟议的生物打印设备将是多功能的，以便教师可以将其用于各种课堂应用。此外，教育工具包将包括方便学生进行3D生物打印实验的软件工具、生物制剂工具包和课程，以支持教师在课堂上使用生物打印机。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目旨在为高中和大学教育市场创造一个功能强大和多功能的生物打印设备和教育工具包。这项工作背后的动机是让下一代学生更容易接触到新的尖端工具，他们不仅将受益于在不久的将来获得所需的行业相关技能，而且还将为他们提供创新的机会。拟议的多功能生物打印设备将有助于增加课堂上的动手学习活动，这是学习科学和实践工程以及基于项目的学习的关键组成部分。为此，开发支持使用3D生物打印机的课程对于在课堂上证明采用3D生物打印机至关重要。从硬件工程的角度来看，该项目将侧重于工程设计，以实现拟议生物打印设备的多种功能的集成。将开发促进生物实验的设计和创建以及通过成像工具评估实验结果的软件工具，以支持跨越整个生物打印过程的活动。最后，将创建生物试剂套件，以支持3D生物打印机的消耗品需求。

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology is giving rise to new methods and innovation in multiple fields across the biomedical and biotechnological industries. On-going progress is generating growth in the bioprinting market creating demands for new job skills in the near future. To address industry needs, schools must ready themselves with the right tools and equipment to train next generation students. Moreover, increased accessibility of technology in education can help to empower students and expand their scientific creativity. However, current 3D bioprinting instrumentation are primarily designed for industry use and expensive. Technical barriers further prohibit many schools from gaining access. To truly democratize technology innovation for next generation scientists and engineers, a sustainable solution catered to the education market is necessary. This SBIR Phase II project is aimed at addressing this opportunity gap and will create an affordable 3D bioprinting equipment and educational toolkit catered to high schools and colleges. The proposed bioprinting equipment will be multi-functional so that teachers can use it for a variety of classroom applications. In addition, the educational toolkit will include student-friendly software tools facilitating experiments in 3D bioprinting, bioreagent kits, and curriculum to support teachers in using the bioprinters in the classroom.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to create a highly functional and versatile bioprinting equipment and educational toolkit for the high school and college education market. The motivation behind this work is to increase accessibility of new and cutting-edge tools to next generation students who will not only benefit from gaining industry-relevant skills they need in the near future but provide them with the opportunity to innovate. The proposed multi-functional bioprinting equipment will facilitate increased hands-on learning activities in the classroom, a key component in learning science and practice engineering, and project-based learning. To this end, the development of curriculum to support use of the 3D bioprinter is critical in manifesting adoption in the classroom. From the hardware engineering perspective, the project will focus on engineering design to achieve integration of multiple functionalities in the proposed bioprinting equipment. Software tools that facilitate design and creation of bio-experimentation, and evaluation of experimental results through imaging tools will be developed to support activities spanning across the entire bioprinting process. Finally, bioreagent kits will be created to support consumable needs for the 3D bioprinter.