Better Bioprinting by Light-sheet Lithography

Bioprinting is considered the most promising method to produce functional engineered tissues with physiological properties. Successful tissue engineering will open research avenues for drug testing and therapeutic and will therefore raise much interest not only in the academia, but also pharma and clinical sectors. Current bioprinting methods are limited by combinations of insufficient speed, spatial resolution and cell viability. Since these technologies often suffer from poor spatial resolution and inability to control biomechanical properties, they fail to mimic the heterogeneous nature of native tissues. B-BRIGHTER aims to develop a novel bioprinting technology able to produce engineered tissues with high spatial resolution at high printing speed using an original top-down lithography approach. In contrast with current bottom up, layer-by-layer bioprinting methods, B-BRIGHTER aims at ultra high-speed digital light-sheet illumination strategy to selectively photo-crosslink cell-laden hydrogels mimicking specific tissues, in confined voxels and produce three-dimensional complex geometries. Previous advances from the BRIGHTER project will be extended by building complex bioengineered skin, cornea and gut tissue models, all of which represent pioneering examples for bioengineering, and its application for cell therapy, drug discovery and toxicology. Together with the work on patterning technology, bioink and application, a basis will be established for formulating a valid business case for a bioprinting product. The work on exploitation activities will ultimately result in a go-no go decision for the industrialisation of a bioprinting product and a commercial path forward. Ultimately, the goal of the B-BRIGHTER project is to provide a radically new bioprinting technology to boost the performance of various engineered tissues which in turn will promote improved healthcare opportunities, as well as business and employment advances in the European Union and beyond.