Using 3D Bioprinting to Reduce Animal Experimentation with 3D Cell Culture Models

Advances in biomedical research have made it possible to treat diseases and have led to tremendous medical advances in recent decades

Under the European program, the BRIGHTER project (Optical Edition Bioprinting: This project is coordinated by the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) and aims to contribute to the reduction of animal experiments by developing new 3D bioprinting solutions

New highlight technology of 3D bioprinting

BRIGHTER is an EU-funded project coordinated by a team of experts from the IBEC Cell Engineering Biomimetic Systems Laboratory, led by Dr.

To achieve this, the researchers are developing a new 3D bioprinting technique based on laser drawing boards, which they intend to use to overcome some of the technical barriers that currently limit the fabrication of complex human tissue

"Our innovative 3D bioprinting system not only obtains tissue closer to real tissue, but also faster than existing systems, which is an essential factor in ensuring the viability of new tissue

Hydrogels, the building blocks for cells to grow and form new tissues, are a key component of this technology

lab printed skin

To optimize this new technique, BRIGHTER researchers are printing human skin, a highly complex three-dimensional tissue composed of multiple cell types and structures, such as sweat glands and hair follicles

On the one hand, skin made with this new technology could be used as an animal replacement in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, as well as in basic research laboratories, because it is made from human cells, making it a more reliable system

The advantage of this new technique is that it enables detailed modeling of the printed tissue, which is critical for skin as it is a multi-layered dynamic tissue composed of different cell types and extracellular matrix

To "print" the skin and make it adopt its structure, shape, and consistency, the researchers used advanced imaging techniques that combined illumination with light sheets and high-resolution digital masks to allow cells within the hydrogel form a pattern

"We hope to be able to print a skin sample with an area of ​​1 square centimeter and a thickness of 1 mm in about 10 minutes, with a cell viability rate of over 95%, greatly improving current bioprinting conditions

Researchers from three major European research institutes (IBEC in Spain, Goethe Universität Frankfurt in Germany and the Technion Center in Israel), as well as leading companies in the field of biotechnology (Mycronic in Sweden and Cellendes in Germany), participate in the BRIGHTER project

The BRIGHTER project is funded by the European Commission's FET-open programme under a grant agreement (o828931)