A team of researchers from the Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Basic & Applied Sciences, has developed a cost-effective bio printer for 3D bio printing of hydrogel-based cellular constructs.
The technology has been substantially utilized in the field of medicine in terms of recreating bio-printed organs. Bio-printing is the process of creating cell patterns in a confined space using 3D printing technologies, where cell function and viability are preserved within the printed construct.
“A 3D bio printer is one of the major pillars for initiating the 3D bio printing process. Existing 3D bio printing technology has a variety of advantages in the context of technical parameters as well as deposition methods but the cost is too high for the area of research to experience enough growth” told Dr. Muhammad Arshad Malik, supervisor of the project.
In this research, Dr. Arshad Malik’s group comprising of graduate students Muhammad Hassan Raza, Maqbool Ur Rehman, and Muhammad Abdullah have engineered their own 3D bio printer which is very cheap in terms of costs with estimate of around $100 and it can be utilized in routine tissue engineering applications with the resolution of 100 micrometers to more than 1 millimeter; such as for 3D bioprinting of tissues using hydrogels. This important finding with great potential of applications has been published in The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Library. (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8967361).