EDITOR’S CHOICE
3D BIOPRINTING
FELIXprinters
Meeting the challenges of bioprinting
By Nadia du Plooy, Marketing Manager,
FELIXprinters
3D bioprinting offers opportunities such
as testing treatment for diseases using
artificially affected tissues, and through
using bioink, it’s much easier to solve
problems on a patient-specific level,
promoting simpler operations. Within this
context this article assesses the possibilities
that exist for bioprinting, and looks at a
newly introduced technology option that
can provide highly reliable and cost-
effective bioprinting options.
With the growing demand for customized
medical devices and pharmaceutical,
3D printing/additive manufacturing (AM)
has begun to iron out a niche for itself
in the medical and life sciences sectors.
Throughout industry — but in the life
sciences sector in particular — 3D printing
has been truly disruptive, and some would
say revolutionary, and it has promoted the
manufacture of personalized implants and
prosthetics, personalized and adjustable
dosage forms for drug delivery, tissue
engineering, and disease modeling.
But the use of AM in life science
applications is not necessarily straight-
forward. For example, the physiochemical
and biopharmaceutical characteristics of
active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)
in drug formulations are extremely varied,
and need to be considered alongside
any proposed AM drug delivery solution.
However, the over-riding demand for
patient-centric drug and medical product
development means that AM’s future is
secured in the life sciences sector.
AM is now an established technology in
the manufacture of models (phantoms) for
surgical planning and training, implants and
prostheses, patient specific anti-microbial
wound dressings, and some novel forms of
drug delivery, but a relatively less advanced
area, and one in which FELIXprinters is
working actively is in the field of bioprinting
and so called “organs-on-chip”.
THE BIOPRINTING MARKET
The global 3D bioprinting market —
currently valued at $965 million — is
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expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 20%
up to the mid 2020s, driven by increased
healthcare demands, but also to overcome
the supply bottlenecks and ethical issues
associated with organ donation and tissue
repair. Bioprinting also caters for the
increased demand for customized patient-
specific healthcare solutions, a trend that is
only likely to accelerate moving forward.
The key stimulus behind AM driven
bioprinting is to find a solution for organ
/ tissue rejection, and the requirement
for lifelong immunosuppressant-based
therapies. The area of regenerative
medicine is constantly on the look out for
mechanisms that allow for the fabrication
of multi-layer soft biological materials
such as living cells, and in this extremely
exacting area of research, AM is finding a
foothold.
Wilgo Feliksdal, Co-Founder of
FELIXprinters explains, “To date, AM has
been mainly used for the preparation of
tissue construct such as blood vessels,
liver, kidneys, heart tissue, cartilage, and
bone. But all developments in this area
of the use of AM requires a focus on the
long-term viability of the “printed” cells,
the control of cell proliferation so as to
provide sufficient amount of functional and
supporting cells and tissue homeostasis,
and the requirement for tissues used in
3D printing to be able to survive pressure
and shear stress during the 3D printing
process, as well as contact with potentially
harmful compounds.”
A NEW BIOPRINTING OPTION
With this in mind, FELIXprinters has
recently launched its BIOprinter which
has been developed on the chassis of
the established FELIXprinters’ product
line which includes the Pro and Tec series
and the Pro L & XL machines. This means
that at its heart is the tried and tested
technology that has already been serving
industry successfully for years.
The BIOprinter is characterized by key
features that are specifically designed
for medical, scientific, and research
applications, including syringe cooling,
print bed cooling and heating, a dual
head system, easy syringe positioning
(ergonomic access to the machine
supports researchers in their work), and
automatic bed levelling.