Bioprinting Blog

Organ shortage remains as a global crisis with no sight of a decrease in demand. In the US alone, the current number of people on a waitlist for organ transplantation stands at over 120,000 and >83% are awaiting for kidney transplants [1] . Of those requiring transplants, only ~17% receive a kidney transplant, ~5% will die and the remaining 78% are still on the waitlist. Kidney transplants is not the end-all be-all Even if you were the lucky 13%, having a new transplant means you have to be on immunosuppresive drugs for the rest of their lives to minimize organ rejection and continue to be vigilant with their health. The other option For those who are less fortunate, which is the majority, they have to be on dialysis. This means you will have to go to a treatment center for hemodialysis every 2-3 days to get your blood filtered. For those who choose home-based treatment, either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, this will have to be done everyday. Dialysis treatment affects ...

Written by Ria Bhatia Over the past three decades, the field of 3D bioprinting has emerged, creating endless possibilities for scientific progress. However, there are significant ethical dilemmas that come with this contemporary technology. One of the significant dichotomies in the bioprinting community is caused by those who support the idea of printing organs and those who do not. Throughout the history of organ transplantation, the process has been and continues to be vitiated by the lack of available organs and the long waiting lists for patients to receive a transplant. Currently, about 20 people die every day while on the waiting list [1] . Although it may seem as though bioprinting is the solution to the organ shortage epidemic, there are ethical concerns to this supposed panacea. When the first bioprinted organ is successfully manufactured, the question will arise: will this new technology only benefit the rich? This may very well be a reality of this nascent industry: b...

New Methods   Researchers at UCLA, Harvard, UC San Diego, University of Santiago de Compostela, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Sharif University of Technology have collaborated to create a stereolithographic bioprinting platform capable of printing with multiple materials [1]. This novel device utilizes a digital micromirror device, a moving stage, and a microfluidic device with four pneumatic valves to rapidly switching between various bioinks for multimaterial printing [2]. The micromirror incorporates a UV lamp, digital mirroring device chipset, Keplerian optical setup, and a microscope objective to focus and adjust light intensity on a DMD chip [3]. The light beam is generated into different patterns on the chip using CAD. The microscopic objected focuses the selected pattern at the optimal length where photosensitive hydrogels can be be exposed to UV light to crosslink, solidify, and create complex structures [4]. While the bioprinter has successfully demonstrated printing...