A Bioprinter System for Fabricating Advanced Biomaterials

生物打印是一种新兴技术，它利用机器人和液体处理的技术进步来精确沉积聚合物和细胞等生物材料。生物打印行业正在迅速发展，迫切需要在这一领域培养高素质的人才，并相应地更新学术基础设施。所要求的设备将直接支持达尔豪西大学生物医学工程学院的三个研究项目，重点是新型生物材料的设计、制造和应用。该设备还将加速达尔豪西大学四个学院（工程、医学、牙科和科学）研究人员之间的现有合作，并有助于与加拿大各地的研究人员开展新的合作，开发尖端生物材料。该设备将受益的项目包括：（1）Frampton实验室的基于支架和无支架的3D细胞培养微环境工程;（2）Frampton实验室的实验室生长表皮组织的制造和分析;（3）Frampton实验室的复合纤维-凝胶软生物材料的制造;（4）Frampton实验室的血脑屏障模型的快速液体打印;（5）在Leung实验室的粘液微环境中模拟哺乳动物-微生物相互作用;（6）在Leung实验室的异质肿瘤微环境中跟踪细胞命运;（7）在Leung实验室的牙髓再生生物材料设计;（8）在Maksym实验室的气道微组织的制造和分析;和（9）在Maksym实验室研究气道环的结构-功能关系。精密生物打印机系统将吸引来自物理学，材料科学，工程和生命科学的高素质人才，他们希望利用生物打印来加强他们的研究。来自这些学科的学员将有能力快速开发具有复杂几何形状和成分的新材料，这是达尔豪西大学现有的任何液体处理和快速成型设备都无法实现的。所要求的生物打印机系统的易用性和多功能性将使达尔豪西大学的现有资源和专业知识得到最佳利用，以确保上述各种项目达到研究和工业准备状态。它还将作为一种额外的资源，加强现有基础设施的能力，以制造和快速制作非生命结构的原型。

Bioprinting is an emerging technology that utilizes technical advancements in robotics and liquid handling for precise deposition of biological materials such as polymers and cells. The bioprinting industry is growing rapidly and there is an urgent need for training highly qualified personnel in this area and to update academic infrastructure accordingly. The requested equipment will directly support three research programs in the School of Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University focused on the design, fabrication and application of novel biomaterials. The equipment will also accelerate existing collaborations among researchers from four Faculties at Dalhousie University (Engineering, Medicine, Dentistry and Science) and help to initiate new collaborations with researchers across Canada developing cutting-edge biomaterials. The projects that this equipment will benefit include: (1) Engineering Scaffold-based and Scaffold-free 3D Cell Culture Microenvironments in the Frampton Lab; (2) Manufacture and Analysis of Lab-Grown Epidermal Tissues in the Frampton Lab; (3) Fabrication of Composite Fiber-Gel Soft Biomaterials in the Frampton Lab; (4) Rapid Liquid Printing of Blood-Brain Barrier Models in the Frampton Lab; (5) Simulating Mammalian-Microbe Interactions in the Mucosal Microenvironment in the Leung Lab; (6) Tracking Cell Fate in Heterogeneous Tumour Microenvironments in the Leung Lab; (7) Biomaterial Design for Endodontic Regeneration in the Leung Lab; (8) Manufacture and Analysis of Airway Microtissues in the Maksym Lab; and (9) Investigating Structure-Function Relationships in Airway Rings in the Maksym Lab. A precision bioprinter system will attract highly qualified personnel from physics, materials science, engineering, and the life sciences who wish to utilize bioprinting to enhance their research. Trainees from these disciplines will have the ability to rapidly develop new materials with complex geometries and compositions, which cannot be achieved with any of the existing equipment for liquid handling and rapid prototyping at Dalhousie University. The ease of use and versatility of the requested bioprinter system will allow existing resources and expertise at Dalhousie University to be best-utilized to see that the various projects listed above reach a state of research- and industry-readiness. It will also serve as an additional resource to enhance the capabilities of existing infrastructure targeted at fabrication and rapid prototyping of non-living structures.