Abstract

Emerging Bioprinting Methods to Fabricate Organ-on-a-chip Devices

Haruka Yoshie, Application Specialist, CELLINK

3D bioprinting has received much attention in recent years as more and more studies transition from 2D cell cultures to 3D cell cultures. Here, we present the bioprinting approach to fabricate microfluidic devices for organ-on-a-chip applications. There are different methods to create microchannel structures based on bioprinting technology. With the extrusion-based printing technology, channel structures are generally created with the sacrificial inks. Light-based printing technology such as digital light processing often enables printing of smaller and more complex structures. By mixing the biomaterials with cells, cell-embedding constructs with microfluidic channels can be bioprinted. Vascular models can be further implemented by post-print endothelial cell culturing on the wall of these microchannels to mimic the in vivo environment more closely. Using bioprinting technology, one can also print organoids. With continued developments, 3D bioprinting can offer great applications including vasculature studies and disease modeling.