Ultrasound aligns living cells to replicate natural tissues

A technique to improve the characteristics of engineered tissues uses ultrasound to align living cells during the biofabrication process, an advance that allows engineered tissue to more closely mimic natural tissues.

The technique from North Carolina State University - ultrasound-assisted biofabrication (UAB) –aligns cells in a three-dimensional matrix during the bioprinting process.

“This allows us to create a knee meniscus, for example, that is more similar to a patient's original meniscus,” said Rohan Shirwaiker, corresponding author of a paper on the work and an associate professor in NC State's Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering. “To date, we've been able to align cells for a range of engineered musculoskeletal tissues."

To align the cells, the researchers built an ultrasound chamber that allows ultrasonic waves to travel across the area where a bioprinter prints living cells. According to NC State, these ultrasonic waves travel in one direction and are then reflected back to their source, creating a ‘standing ultrasound wave.’ The soundwaves effectively herd the cells into rows, which align with areas where the ultrasound waves and the reflected waves cross each other.