Laboratory-grown cells 3D printed to form living structures

The new technique could enable the production of complex tissues and cartilage that would potentially support, repair or augment diseased and damaged areas of the body.

In research published in Scientific Reports, an interdisciplinary team from the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford University and the Centre for Molecular Medicine at Bristol University, demonstrated how human and animal cells can be printed into high-resolution tissue constructs.

Developing an effective way to 3D-print living tissues has so far proven difficult, particularly since accurately controlling the position of cells in 3D is problematic.

According to Oxford University, the cells often move within printed structures and the soft scaffolding printed to support the cells can collapse on itself. Consequently, it remains a challenge to print high-resolution living tissues.

Now, Prof Hagan Bayley, Professor of Chemical Biology in Oxford’s Department of Chemistry, has led a team that devised a way to produce tissues in self-contained cells that support the structures to keep their shape.