Since its inception, tissue engineering has held the promise of creating tissues for arrange of applications from in vitro disease modeling to in vivo regeneration, organ repair, and replacement. However, to date, few technologies have reproduced the com-plex tissue architecture and cell spatial heterogeneity required to recreate physio-logic function. Over the past decade, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has rapidly grown as a biofabrication approach to enable spatially controlled deposition of biomaterials and cells in 3D with unprecedented precision and control. 3D bioprinting is unique in using computer-aided design (CAD)software and multi axis robotic hardware to create 3D structures with unrivaled complexity when compared to traditional tissue engineering approaches. Equally important is the ability to use medical imaging data, such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to create patient-specific anatomic models, offering a tailored approach to tissue and organ engineering. In this Viewpoint, we focus on recent 3D bioprinting innovations with the potential to build volumetric human tissue and the proof-of-concept applications that address long-standing challenges on the path toward clinical translation.
- Journal:
- Science Translational Medicine
- Year:
- 2022
- PMID:
- 36223452
- DOI:
- 10.1126/scitranslmed.abo7047