Ferris C.J., Gilmore K.J., Beirne S., McCallum D., Wallace G.G., in het Panhuis M.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES), AU
Keywords: bio-ink, biomaterials, cell, inkjet
This abstract summarises our recent work on the development of a bio-ink tailored for the controlled deposition of cells by inkjet printing. Direct printing of living cells is an emerging approach to the fabrication of tissue- or organ-like structures for application in regenerative medicine and in vitro drug screening and toxicology. Significant advances in bio-ink design are needed to continue the progression of this technology towards a clinically relevant biofabrication tool. Particularly, bio-inks for inkjet printing must simultaneously satisfy often disparate engineering and biological requirements, such as preventing cell settling and aggregation whilst retaining printability, without cytotoxic effects. The bio-ink described in this work uses a novel microgel suspension and biocompatible surfactants to achieve the above requirements to enable robust cell deposition from many-nozzle piezoelectric inkjet print heads. We employed this capability to fabricate a range of cell constructs and microarrays. We believe that the bio-ink described in this work is an important advance in inkjet cell printing.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 2, Nanotechnology 2013: Electronics, Devices, Fabrication, MEMS, Fluidics and Computational (Volume 2)
Published: May 12, 2013
Pages: 261 - 264
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Sensors, MEMS, Electronics
Topic: Inkjet Design, Materials & Fabrication
ISBN: 978-1-4822-0584-8