'The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology'
Abstract
Organ printing is the layer-by-layer bottom-up fabrication of complex cellular
organization of native tissues or organs by bioprinting multiple cell types and other biomaterials
at designated positions. The rising success rate of transplants has resulted in a critical need for
more tissues and organs. Approximately 95,000 people are on the waiting list for new organs in
the U.S. alone, and some die every day waiting for transplants. Integrated with a better
understanding of multicellular self-assembly, bioprinting-based organ printing provides a
promising solution to the problem of organ donor shortage. While some major challenges in
bioprinting are biological such as endothelialization, vascularization, and accelerated tissue
maturation, there is a critical need to create scale-up technologies for the robotic fabrication of
hollow three-dimensional (3D) vascular constructs for use as the first step toward organ printing.
Both inkjet- and laser- based bioprinting technologies have been explored as enabling bioprinting
technologies, and complex constructs such as 3D vascular and vascular-like constructs have been
successfully fabricated.Mechanical Engineerin
