Abstract

BioLithoMorphie®: A Method for the Construction of 3D Biological Morphologies

Andreas Schober, Head of Department Nano-biosystem Technology, University of Technology Ilmenau, Technische Universitat Ilmenau

Recent advances in the “life Sciences” related to organ -on-a chip, tissue engineering and pharmaceutical drug testing etc. will need methods to guide the assembly of cells in 3D. In this contribution we will explain our approach to gain complex cellular structures while using different polymers and biopolymers processed by micromachining, chemical pattern guided cell cultivation, photo polymerization, and organ printing methods. Such a “toolbox” transferring methods from microsystem technology and surface chemistry for the production of 3-dimensional biological morphologies could be defined as BioLithoMorphie®. By retrieving the main geometric features of a biological morphology on different geometric scales (biotechnical multiscale engineering) we are able to define the most important parameters to mimic complex tissue like structures of different organs . Due to folding and stacking of pre manufactured polymers (cell sheet layers) it is also possible to achieve tissue like structures including fluidic entities, e.g. to emulate the complete structure of liver lobules. Another promising approach is mimicking the morphologies of the blood stem cell niche. Experiments indicate that it is possible to maintain the stem cell characteristics of blood stem cells during proliferation in manufactured polymer foils of the bone marrow. This might be a breakthrough to get the chance for amplifying the number of stem cells for transplantation also in the treatment of leukemia.