From Biomaterial to Organoid - Bioprinting for Practice

Abstract

The current state of technology for 3D printing with biomaterials is based on the extrusion of viscous materials. Mostly, extrusion heads utilize pneumatic pressure systems or stepper motors to force the substrate onto a surface. These methods are well developed for high viscouse materials. However, processing low viscous liquids may cause leakages in the system. This could be solved by applying continuous extrusion. Additionally, in order to process gelable substrates, such as gelatine and agar, tempered print heads in combination with a multi stage tempering system are required to prevent the system from clogging. The ongoing work presented in this paper focuses on the development of an extrusion system, which should be able to process multiple viscosities of gelatine sequentially. In order to achieve this, several measurements to examine the properties, as well as the material parameters of different biomaterials are performed. In this process gel point, force resistance and elasticity are the factors of particularly interest. Due to their ability to gel and their availability, the most relevant biomaterials are gelatine and agar. Using this data, an extrusion system involving a peristaltic pump, a heated tube and a nozzle, has been developed. The next step envisaged is to calibrate the extruder based on the obtained data and finally to validate the printing process by printing simple geometric structures. Assuming that a positive evaluation is obtained, the printing system will be tested for printing first organic test structures from patient data using the examined biomaterials.