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Pioneering results: artificial tissues from the printer

Nine project partners from research and industry developped a 3D bioprinter

The core of the project „3D-Bio-Net“ funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is the prototype of a 3D printer, which enables the printing of artificial tissues for example using human stem cells and using innovative printing technologies and processes. A comprehensive generic platform for the 3D printing of living cells ans tissues has been established, including materials, processes, hardware and software and test systems for drugs, as well as regulatory requirements for future medical applications.

"The products that can be developed on the basis of the platform are all products that will eventually find their way into medicine or systems for testing active substances in vitro, i.e. in the test tube, in research in order to make animal experiments unnecessary," explains Dr. Peter Koltay, Head of Microfluidics at Hahn-Schickard and spokesman of the 3D Bio-Net project.

3D bioprinting is one of the future technologies that can fundamentally change medicine and pharmaceutical research. One major challenge is the high complexity of this method: when printing living tissue and (micro)organ models, a large variety of living cells, different biomaterials such as hydrogels or biopolymers, and a large number of different processing and printing methods must be used and mastered. An essential part of the process is also the consideration of strict regulatory requirements for clinical applications. The 3D-Bio-Net project dealt with all these challenges.

The project 3D-Bio-Net (FKZ 03VNE1034) was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from 2017 to 2020 in the funding line KMU-NetC.

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