An agile bio-manufacturing platform for production of blood vasculature

大自然是复杂和尖端制造的最好例子。人体是由细胞和支持基质构成的，其中各种生物分子在发育、正常功能和再生方面发挥着复杂的功能。这种微妙的平衡在疾病或创伤中被扰乱，并被身体随着年龄的增长而不断下降的再生能力所扰乱。器官移植挽救了许多人的生命，为英国国民健康保险制度节省了数百万英镑，然而，英国每天都有4人在等待名单上死亡。那些幸运地接受器官移植的人需要免疫抑制药物，这使得他们容易感染并增加癌症风险。人们迫切需要人工设计的器官和组织移植物，在植入后成功移植，而不需要免疫抑制。此外，心血管疾病是全球最大的死亡原因。这是由心脏或循环系统的问题引起的。需要变革性的解决方案来满足器官移植和心血管疾病日益增长的未得到满足的临床需求。该项目的目的是开发一种冒险的制造流程，通过采用新的制造策略来重建血管的结构和细胞复杂性。该项目结合了先进材料、3D打印和先进成像，为我们老龄化社会面临的关键医疗挑战提供了变革性的解决方案。该项目将满足对功能性组织移植和器官移植和药物发现的日益增长的需求。到目前为止，人工组织工程化的一个主要障碍是无法复制血管的微观和宏观结构。我们的新制造研究想法是开发一种复杂和复杂的流体输送系统，使用3D打印机在实验室重建血管。我们的研究将使血管从小(头发宽度)到大(厘米)的快速生产成为可能，并利用先进的生物材料，通过在液体输送系统中混合从溶液到凝胶来实现这一目标。

Nature is the prime example of complex and sophisticated manufacturing. The human body is constructed by cells and support matrices where a variety of biomolecules perform complex functions in development, normal function and regeneration. This delicate balance is disturbed in disease or trauma and confounded by the body's declining regenerative capacity with increasing age. Organ transplantation has saved many lives and millions of pounds to the NHS, however every day 4 people in the UK die while on the waiting list. Those fortunate to receive organ transplants require immunosuppressant drugs, making them prone to infection and increased risk of cancer. There is a dire need for artificially engineered organs and tissue grafts, that engraft successfully on implantation without the need for immunosuppression. Furthermore, cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death globally. This is caused by problems with the heart or the circulatory system. Transformative solutions are required to meet the rising unmet clinical need for organ transplantation and cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this project is to develop an adventurous manufacturing workflow to recreate the structural and cellular complexity of blood vessels by employing novel manufacturing strategies. The project combines advanced materials, 3D printing and advanced imaging to provide transformative solutions to key healthcare challenges facing our aging society. This project will address the growing demand for functional tissue grafts and organs for transplantation and drug discovery. To date, a major hurdle in engineering artificial tissue has been the inability to reproduce the blood vessel micro- and macro-architecture. Our novel manufacturing research idea is to develop a complex and sophisticated fluid delivery system, with a 3D printer to recreate blood vessels in the laboratory. Our research will enable the rapid production of blood vessels from small (width of hair) to large (centimetres) sizes, and harness advanced biomaterials, designed to change from solution to gel by mixing in the fluid delivery system, to achieve this goal.