Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, have developed a flexible 3D bioprinter that can layer organic material directly onto organs or tissues. Unlike other bioprinting approaches, this system would only be minimally invasive, perhaps helping to avoid major surgeries or organ removal. It sounds like the future, at least in theory, but the research team cautions that human testing is still five to seven years away.
The printer, dubbed F3DB, has a smooth robotic arm that can assemble biomaterials with living cells into damaged internal organs or tissue. Its flexible, snake-like body would enter the body through the mouth or anus, with a pilot/surgeon guiding it to the injured area via hand gestures. Additionally, it has jets that can spray water onto the target area, and its print nozzle can double as an electric scalpel. The team hopes that their multifunctional approach can one day be an all-in-one tool (incise, clean and print) for minimally invasive operations.
The F3DB’s robotic arm uses three soft-fabric bellows actuators that utilize a hydraulic system comprised of “DC motor-driven syringes that pump water into the actuators,” as summarized by IEEE spectrum. Its flexible print head and arm can each move in three degrees of freedom (DOF), similar to desktop 3D printers. In addition, it includes a flexible miniature camera so that the operator can see the task in real time.
The research team conducted its first laboratory tests on the device using non-biological materials: chocolate and liquid silicone. They later tested it on a pig’s kidney before finally moving on to biomaterials imprinted on a glass surface in an artificial colon. “We saw the cells grow every day and quadrupled on day seven, the last day of the experiment,” said Thanh Nho Do, co-leader of the team and a senior professor at the UNSW Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering. “The results show that F3DB has great potential to become an all-in-one endoscopic tool for endoscopic submucosal dissection procedures.”
The team believes the device is full of potential, but more testing will be needed to bring it to the real world. Next steps would include studying its use in animals and, eventually, in humans; Do believes that there are between five and seven years away. But according to Ibrahim Ozbolat, a professor of engineering and mechanics at Pennsylvania State University, “commercialization can only be a matter of time.”
