3D printing of edible biomimetic scaffolds for the engineering of animal muscle tissue

到2050年，对动物性食品的需求将增加70%，以满足全球人口22.5%的增长。然而，全世界已有8亿人遭受饥饿和营养不良，畜牧业每年排放的温室气体占全球的12-18%。与传统方法相比，人工养殖肉是一种对动物和地球更安全、更金德的肉类生产方法。然而，由于最终产品的复杂性质，在体外复制肉类非常具有挑战性。此外，培养肉需要与传统生产的肉的感官特性相匹配，以获得消费者的接受。使用3D打印的增材制造已经在组织工程中进行了探索，用于创建人造组织和器官，因此有望制造支架，以支持结构化培养肉制品的形成。在这种情况下，3D打印有两种不同的方法：（a）构建多孔无细胞3D结构，其在打印后接种细胞;以及（B）直接生物打印载有细胞的生物材料。虽然3D生物打印可以实现精确的细胞分布，但设计合适的生物墨水并不是一件容易的事情。该项目旨在将联合收割机可食用聚合物和3D打印相结合，以创造一种支架材料，该材料具有支持和维持细胞活力和功能的结构和机械特性，最终目标是生产全切培养肉。

The demand for animal-based foods will increase by 70% in 2050 to meet the 22.5% growth in global population. Yet, 800 million people worldwide already suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and the livestock industry contributes 12-18% of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions. Cultivated' meat is an alternative way to produce meat which is safer and kinder to the animals and the planet compared to traditional methods. Replicating meat in vitro, however, is very challenging because of the complex nature of the final product. Furthermore, cultivated meat needs to match the organoleptic properties of conventionally produced meat in order to gain consumer acceptance. Additive manufacturing using 3D printing has already been explored in tissue engineering for the creation of artificial tissues and organs and therefore holds promise for the fabrication of scaffolds to support the formation of structured cultivated meat products. There are two different approaches to 3D printing in this context: (a) building porous acellular 3D structures which are seeded with cells post-printing; and (b) direct bioprinting of cell-laden biomaterials. Although 3D bioprinting can achieve accurate cell distribution, designing a suitable bioink is not an easy task. This project aims to combine edible polymers and 3D printing to create a scaffold material which possess structural and mechanical properties that support and maintain cellular viability and function, with the production of whole cut cultivated meat as the ultimate goal.