Abstract

Designing Bioinks For 3D Tissue Bioprinting

Y. Shrike Zhang, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Associate Bioengineer, Harvard Medical School

Over the last decade, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has offered great versatility to fabricate biomimetic volumetric tissues that are both structurally and functionally relevant. It enables precise control over the composition, spatial distribution, and architecture of the bioprinted constructs, facilitating recapitulation of the delicate shapes and structures of target organs and tissues. In particular, the search for optimal bioink formulations has proven challenging as bioprinting materials must fulfill several, often contradictory requirements. In this talk, I will accordingly discuss our most recent efforts on developing cytocompatible, cell-instructive, and functional bioink formulations aiming at promoting our capacities in the fabrication of engineered tissue constructs. These bioinks, when rationally combined with a series of established or customized bioprinting strategies, not only improve their printability but also enhance the functions of the resulting tissues that are produced.