Technology could enhance systems for cell growth in labs

According to the university, the technology could lead to better systems for growing and studying cells, including stem cells, in the laboratory.

In the longer term, the goal is to be able to print biological tissues for regenerative medicine. For example, in the future, doctors may repair the damage caused by heart attack by replacing it with tissue that came off a printer.

Reported in the journal Advanced Materials, the biofabrication technology, called dynamic optical projection stereolithography (DOPsL), was developed in the laboratory of NanoEngineering Prof Shaochen Chen.

Current fabrication techniques, such as photolithography and micro-contact printing, are limited to generating simple geometries or 2D patterns. Stereolithography is best known for its ability to print large objects such as tools and car parts.

The difference, said Chen in a statement, is in the micro- and nanoscale resolution required to print tissues that mimic nature’s fine-grained details, including blood vessels. Without the ability to print vasculature, an engineered liver or kidney, for example, is useless in regenerative medicine.