Smart Bioinks for Tissue Printing
June 18, 2019 | Terry Sharrer
The idea of printing transplantable tissue has passed from fantasy to reality, and this piece reports on a collaboration between a Fraunhofer Institute and University of Stuttgart to customize the bioinks. “The new bioinks are made of biopolymers, including gelatin and hyaluronic acid, an aqueous medium, and the living cells to be proliferated. These are deposited a layer at a time and in different sequences to create a hydrogel of the necessary shape that is desired. They’re like Jell-O at this point, but thanks to the magic of UV light, the molecules within the material cross-link and create strong connections, fundamentally changing the consistency of the material.” MORE
Image Credit: Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology and MedGadget.com