BioArchitecture
Over the past ten years, 3D bioprinting has emerged as a powerful tool to fabricate human tissue models ex vivo. These models can be used for drug discovery, to obtain a better understanding of physiological and pathological mechanisms, and in the future to replace diseased or injured tissues and organs. To successfully fabricate functional tissues, 3D bioprinted constructs should emulate the anatomical features of the native tissue’s extracellular matrix (ECM). However, current bioprinting technologies can neither mimic the nano- and microscale fibrillar ECM, nor replicate the anisotropic and spatially organized architecture and gradients of complex tissues, such as cartilage, cornea, and the heart. Within BioArchitecture, we aim to develop a novel 3D bioprinter platform, capable of bioprinting hierarchical and organized biomaterial constructs at high resolution to instruct and guide cell growth and tissue maturation. The BioArchitecture platform will allow researchers and pharmaceutical companies to perform better drugs target identification in native-like bioprinted human tissues ex vivo, which will better predict the efficacy and safety of the tested drugs and significantly decrease healthcare costs by reducing the required amount of personnel, infrastructure, an animal experiments associated to a new drug development.