Clinical trials are underway for 3D printed tissues for the ear, skin, and blood vessels. Research for other organs is also ongoing. We asked bioprinting companies when and if humans could benefit from this technology.
Researchers and scientists around the globe are hard at work to bioprint functional human tissues to satisfy the growing demand for transplants.
Regemat 3D has grown to be one of the world’s top 15 3D bioprinting companies, and is now present in almost 30 countries.
Mico stated that Mico is the only company specializing in the design and production of customized 3D bioprinters for tissue engineering applications.
Mico cites 3D bioprinting as having the potential to speed up the development of new drugs, reduce the time it takes to get them on the market, and decrease the number of animals used for research.
How far is it from now that this technology can be used to create complex organs?
“We all have our own crystal balls and I believe in 5-10 years. Dickerson said, “I think I’ll soon be saying 4-8 years, we are closing that gap.”
Fabien Guilmot, CEO of the next-generation bioprinting company Poietis said that it was “difficult for the world to determine when (and if),” because of the differences in tissue complexity compared with organs.
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Clinical trials are underway for different 3D bioprinted tissues (ear, skin, and blood vessels). Preclinical research is ongoing in many companies and institutions worldwide for other applications, such as cartilage, cornea, heart patches, and cornea.
Guillemot stated that all the trials contained tissues with a different level of complexity. This is lower than an organ’s. For example, some tissues are flat and others have one or two cell types.
Guillemot stated that “but, implanting bioprinted functional tissue might be enough to restore and repair organ function without changing the entire organ.” “So, we expect that clinicians will use routine bioprinting as well as bioprinted tissue products made from the patient’s cells in order to provide treatment.”
Mico stated that although the field is “very far away” from bioprinting complex organs, “it is so important for you to invest in basic and translational research now, because tomorrow’s clinical applications will be based on today’s research.”
