biomaterials made of hydrogels and cells. Common strategies for
3D bioprinting include inkjet bioprinting, microextrusion, laserassisted bioprinting, and freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels [3–5]. In the 3D bioprinting paradigm, CAD is
used to design the final construct and the associated printing technology is used to render it. One limitation of these techniques is
that hydrogel-based biomaterials can demonstrate insufficient
mechanical stability or structural integrity for some applications as
they are often printed with relatively low modulus materials
(E < 100 kPa).
A significant advance in 3D bioprinting for tissue replacements
was the development of multimaterial printers, such as the
integrated tissue-organ printer (ITOP) [6]. This technology
enabled the fabrication of cell-laden tissue constructs with sufficient
mechanical integrity through sequential printing of cell-laden
hydrogels along with structural support polymers, e.g., polycaprolactone (PCL). The incorporation of PCL within the printing
process allowed the ITOP to fabricate stable and cell-laden tissue
constructs on the human-scale. While transformative, multimaterial
printers require complex and specialized instrumentation making
the costs prohibitive for some labs, start-up companies, and broad
clinical use. In addition, cell viability can be impacted by long-cell
handling times and the whole fabrication process must be conducted within a controlled and sterile environment. Therefore,
new technologies are needed to extend these advances in multicomponent biomaterials and computational design in order to
accelerate the translation of personalized medical implants.
To complement existing approaches, we have developed a facile
method to engineer multicomponent biomaterials with predefined
geometry and mechanical properties [7]. The general approach
exploits CAD and traditional AM to design and fabricate a fenestrated lattice with defined geometry and mechanical properties.
Then, surface tension is used to coat the 3D-printed lattice with
suspended liquid films that can be transformed subsequently into
solid hydrogels, which can optionally contain encapsulated cells.
This multi-stage approach enables the rapid production of multimaterial and cell-laden tissue constructs on the mm to cm lengthscales and constitutes an additional unit operation in AM beyond
layer-by-layer deposition. The 3D-printed lattice controls the
geometry and physical properties of the final biomaterial while
the hydrogel offers a substrate for cell seeding, encapsulation, and
biointegration. In addition, surface tension-assisted AM avoids
some challenges with traditional 3D bioprinting by enabling minimal cell handling and decreased time for fabrication as material
does not need to be deposited at each voxel in the final design. In
total, this method based on surface tension-assisted AM comprises
a facile approach to design and fabricate multicomponent
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Elia A. Guzzi et al.
3D bioprinting include inkjet bioprinting, microextrusion, laserassisted bioprinting, and freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels [3–5]. In the 3D bioprinting paradigm, CAD is
used to design the final construct and the associated printing technology is used to render it. One limitation of these techniques is
that hydrogel-based biomaterials can demonstrate insufficient
mechanical stability or structural integrity for some applications as
they are often printed with relatively low modulus materials
(E < 100 kPa).
A significant advance in 3D bioprinting for tissue replacements
was the development of multimaterial printers, such as the
integrated tissue-organ printer (ITOP) [6]. This technology
enabled the fabrication of cell-laden tissue constructs with sufficient
mechanical integrity through sequential printing of cell-laden
hydrogels along with structural support polymers, e.g., polycaprolactone (PCL). The incorporation of PCL within the printing
process allowed the ITOP to fabricate stable and cell-laden tissue
constructs on the human-scale. While transformative, multimaterial
printers require complex and specialized instrumentation making
the costs prohibitive for some labs, start-up companies, and broad
clinical use. In addition, cell viability can be impacted by long-cell
handling times and the whole fabrication process must be conducted within a controlled and sterile environment. Therefore,
new technologies are needed to extend these advances in multicomponent biomaterials and computational design in order to
accelerate the translation of personalized medical implants.
To complement existing approaches, we have developed a facile
method to engineer multicomponent biomaterials with predefined
geometry and mechanical properties [7]. The general approach
exploits CAD and traditional AM to design and fabricate a fenestrated lattice with defined geometry and mechanical properties.
Then, surface tension is used to coat the 3D-printed lattice with
suspended liquid films that can be transformed subsequently into
solid hydrogels, which can optionally contain encapsulated cells.
This multi-stage approach enables the rapid production of multimaterial and cell-laden tissue constructs on the mm to cm lengthscales and constitutes an additional unit operation in AM beyond
layer-by-layer deposition. The 3D-printed lattice controls the
geometry and physical properties of the final biomaterial while
the hydrogel offers a substrate for cell seeding, encapsulation, and
biointegration. In addition, surface tension-assisted AM avoids
some challenges with traditional 3D bioprinting by enabling minimal cell handling and decreased time for fabrication as material
does not need to be deposited at each voxel in the final design. In
total, this method based on surface tension-assisted AM comprises
a facile approach to design and fabricate multicomponent
150
Elia A. Guzzi et al.