Gamechanging Technology
How a new high-speed 3D bioprinter is revolutionizing drug discovery
A groundbreaking 3D bioprinting technology developed by the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia, has been hailed as a gamechanger for drug discovery.
The new technology can fabricate structures that resemble the diverse tissues in the human body, from soft brain tissue to harder materials like cartilage and bone. It gives pharmaceutical companies the ability to replicate organs and tissues and paves the way for advanced and ethical drug discovery by reducing the need for animal testing. The groundbreaking technology is already generating excitement in the medical research sector.
“In addition to drastically improving print speed, our approach enables cell positioning within printed tissues,” said David Collins, the head of the Collins BioMicrosystems Laboratory and an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. “Incorrect cell positioning is a big reason most 3D bioprinters fail to produce structures that accurately represent human tissue.”
Currently, commercially available 3D bioprinters rely on a slow, layer-by-layer fabrication approach. This presents several challenges. For example, the process can take hours to complete, putting the viability of living cells at risk during the printing stage. After printing, the cell structures must be delicately transferred into standard laboratory plates for imaging and analysis — a critical step that could jeopardize the integrity of these fragile structures.
In development, the university used an optical-based system. The groundbreaking technique employs vibrating bubbles to 3D print cellular structures in seconds, approximately 350 times faster than conventional methods. This allows researchers to precisely replicate human tissues with cellular-level accuracy. It creates a crucial bridge between lab research and clinical applications.
By cutting down the 3D printing time and printing directly into standard lab plates, the Melbourne team has greatly improved cell survival rates. The technology also eliminates the need for manual handling. This approach ensures that the printed structures stay intact and sterile throughout the process.
The university is working with around 60 researchers from institutions such as Harvard Medical School and the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The feedback from these institutions has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
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