Riccardo Levato,
Associate Professor in Translational Bioengineering and Biomaterials,
University Medical Center Utrecht
Riccardo Levato is Associate Professor of Translational Bioengineering and Biomaterials at the Department of Clinical Sciences (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University), and a Principal Investigator both at the Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht and at the Department of Orthopedics of the University Medical Center Utrecht. His research interests focus on the development of novel biofabrication strategies and cell-instructive biomaterials to create bioprinted, lab-made tissue models and transplantable engineered grafts. Integrating expertise in engineering, materials science and stem cell biology, these efforts aim both to understand and mimic the multifaceted architectural and biochemical structure of living tissues in order to develop effective treatments for human and veterinary healthcare. In 2020 he was awarded a Starting grant from the European Research Council on the development of a novel volumetric bioprinting technology for organoid research and to engineer functional bone marrow analogues in vitro. In addition, since 2021, he is coordinator of a European consortium (ENLIGHT), funded under the Future and Emerging Technologies scheme (European Innovation Council pilot), aiming at developing biofabricated pancreas units to study treatments for diabetes. To date, he has published 52 peer-reviewed articles international journals, co-authored 2 book chapters and 2 patent applications, and he secured > 13 million euros in research funds for his group and related consortia. In total, he has been (co-)supervisor of 16 PhD students (4 completed, 9 ongoing). For his work, he was conferred several awards including a Orthoregeneration Network Fellowship by the International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS), the 2016 Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine Young Investigator Award, multiple presentation and travel awards, and the 2021 Jean Leray award from the European Society for Biomaterials. Riccardo is also serving on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Biofabrication. Prior to moving to Utrecht, he worked in several research groups working in the fields of Biomaterials, Regenerative Medicine and Biofabrication: 3Bs, University of Minho (Portugal); BioMatLab, Technical University of Milan (Italy), the Biomaterials for Regenerative Therapies group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC, Spain), and he holds a cum laude PhD in Biomedical Engineering from IBEC and from the Technical University of Catalonia (Barcelona, Spain).
Organoids and Complex Cell-based Architectures in Biofabrication and Volumetric Bioprinting
Monday, 7 November 2022 at 14:30
Add to Calendar ▼2022-11-07 14:30:002022-11-07 15:30:00Europe/LondonOrganoids and Complex Cell-based Architectures in Biofabrication and Volumetric BioprintingBioprinting and Bioink Innovations for 3D-Tissues 2022 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
The function of living tissues is intimately linked to their complex architectures. Advances in biofabrication technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to capture salient features of tissue composition and thus guide the maturation of engineered constructs into mimicking functionalities of native organs. In this lecture, the design of novel biofabrication strategies and printable biomaterials to enable the reconstitution of complex 3D structures with precise heterocellular, multi-material and hierarchical composition is discussed. Architectures designed to stimulate the native interaction between multiple (stem) cell types and self-assembled organoids are introduced, with a particular focus on applications in musculoskeletal regeneration and liver tissue engineering. Layerwise hydrogel extrusion and bioprinting, different additive manufacturing technologies, such as melt electrowriting of polymeric microfibers, ceramic plotting and digital light processing lithographic printing, can be combined to create composite, cell-laden constructs that enable integration between engineered hydrogels and hard tissue scaffolds to generate osteochondral grafts. Albeit powerful and versatile, this approach poses relevant limitations on the scalability and production of constructs having clinically relevant size, as well as on the generation of free-form and support free overhanging, porous structures, typically of native anatomy. To overcome these challenges, custom-designed light responsive hydrogels can be sculpted into cell-laden convoluted 3D structures within tens of second, via the development of layerless, volumetric bioprinting approaches inspired by visible light computed tomography. With such nozzle and shear stress-free, highly rapid cell processing approach a variety of hydrogel-based constructs can be assembled into hydrogel-based actuators for potential applications in soft robotics, or as platforms to enhance cell viability and maturation post-printing, including the shaping of large networks of hepatic epithelial organoids into defined 3D perfusable structures which exhibit biosynthetic and metabolic functions. Altogether, the combination of the different strengths of advanced bioprinting technologies offers new opportunities for the biofabrication of large, clinically-relevant multi-tissue constructs for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
Add to Calendar ▼2022-11-07 00:00:002022-11-08 00:00:00Europe/LondonBioprinting and Bioink Innovations for 3D-Tissues 2022Bioprinting and Bioink Innovations for 3D-Tissues 2022 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Add to Calendar ▼2022-11-07 14:30:002022-11-07 15:30:00Europe/LondonOrganoids and Complex Cell-based Architectures in Biofabrication and Volumetric BioprintingBioprinting and Bioink Innovations for 3D-Tissues 2022 in Boston, USABoston, USASELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
