BIO3D, a new multidisciplinary research centre dedicated to 3D-bioprinting development

3D-Bioprinting is an innovative technology that enables printing living tissue or tissue models, reproducing the structure and functionality of human and animal organs.

This technology combines 3D printing and living cells, obtained from in vitro cultures, to reproduce the microenvironment and the organization of complex tissues. The principle is the same as 3D printing (figure 1): deposit in thin layers with high spatial resolution a material that will ultimately form a 3D structure, either solid , hollow (e.g. blood vessel), or with a microstructure (e.g. liver). The specificity of bioprinting compared to 3D printing is that it prints biomaterials (biocompatible biopolymers) combined with cells and possibly active molecules such as growth factors, for example (see figure).

This technology makes it possible to produce living tissues or to design bioactive devices that reproduce the functionality of living tissues, from cells in culture. It can also be used for the production of structures modeling human or animal tissues, from cells cultured in vitro, for toxicological, pharmacological studies and fundamental research. This technique offers the advantage of being able to reduce the use of laboratory animals. Further developments are mentioned to produce tissues implantable in human clinics, such as skin, cartilage, blood vessels or heart tissue.

Applications of 3D bioprinting

One of the greatest challenges in biology is the use of in vitro models that reproduce in vivo conditions with sufficient fidelity.  Currently available in vitro models (in 2D) which do not come from sacrificed animals (cells in culture, organoïds) rarely allow the complex organization of the tissues to be achieved, which hampers the extrapolation of the results obtained in vitro with those obtained in animal tests.

The constructions obtained by bioprinting are much more complex than 2D models and therefore more faithful to the in vivo situation. The main advantage of bioprinting is that it combines the ease and reproducibility of in vitro setups by getting as close as possible to the in vivo complexity, without the need for sacrificing animals. Having such a tool would ultimately make it possible to considerably reduce the number of animals used in biological tests and, consequently, to develop more ethical research.

We can distinguish three main fields of application of 3D bioprinting: the development of model tissues for the understanding of fundamental biological mechanisms and the study of the impact of various molecules (ie health: anti-cancer, environment : pollutants), the manufacture of living tissues that can be used in reconstructive surgery as well as the development of devices capable of reproducing a biological function.

In the biomedical field, 3D-bioprinting is aimed at creating tissues or even anatomical morphological units of complex three-dimensional architecture, intended for use in reconstructive surgery (skin, ear, heart valve, etc. trachea, long bone). Using the emerging methodologies of regenerative medicine, the extracellular matrix mockup produced in the desired shape and composition can indeed then be recolonized using stem cells which are allocompatible with the subject. Ultimately, when  applied to solid organs with a functional parenchyma (kidney, liver, pancreas, heart), it could change the current paradigm of transplantation surgery by offering the double advantage of avoiding rejection and thus the need for immunosuppressive treatments but also to compensate for the shortage of donors.

Already, projects have been initiated at UCLouvain. These include, for example, the development of artificial skin samples to analyze the impacts of skin treatments, the creation of tumor tissues reproducing the tissue organization of a tumor in order to test new anticancer agents, the production of tissue nervous system (e.g. spinal cord) making it possible to study neuronal regeneration in neurodegenerative models, the development of insulin-secreting devices for the treatment of diabetes, etc. Another line of research that interests UCLouvain specifically targets the bioprinting of standardized simple animals that can serve as models for the development of complex human tissues as well as for ecotoxicological studies. Alongside these fundamental aspects, the use of these technologies in the production of complex animal and human tissues is also explored as an ultimate outcome of the vascularized composite tissue engineering techniques developed at UCLouvain.

For information an BIO3D activities, please contact Jean-François Rees (jf.rees@uclouvain.be)
 

* Catherine Behets (IREC/SSS) , Anne des Rieux (LDRI,  SSS) , Christine Dupont (ELI/SST), Karine Glinel, (IMCM/SST), Benoît Lengelé (IREC/SSS), Christophe Pierreux