The B-BRIGHTER project set out with four main goals, to produce a cost-effective and reproducible “bioink” for bioprinting, to design and build two prototype bioprinters,to use these bioprinters to produce tissues such as skin, gut, and cornea, and finally to gather experience and data that could support the future development of a business around this technology. These overarching goals were achieved through work undertaken in all of the work packages, as described in detail below.
The chemistry for hydrogel manufacture was optimised and standardised. ensuring that the materials are stable, easy to ship, and convenient to store. Bioink formulations were developed, formulated and standardised for printing gut, skin and cornea. To make the process more reliable, the bioinks also included additives that keep the cells evenly distributed during printing.
Two LS Bioprinter prototypes are operational and installed at the project partners. Work was focussed at GUF and MYC to convert a laboratory-based device built on an open optical table to a more compact device with an acceptable footprint to be used in a laboratory environment. The devices were installed at the project partners IBEC-CERCA and TECH to enable printing of tissue samples. The device was also designed to allow for real-time monitoring of the printing process for quality assurance. The work with the bioprinters included organising training for the use of the bioprinters and also producing a comprehensive manual for the device.
The main work of printing the tissue types that have been identified for the B-BRIGHTER project, namely gut, skin and cornea, was initiated by the partners IBEC-CERCA and TECH with the two bioprinters built during the project. After receiving proper training, members from both teams become fully independent end-users or the bioprinting devices and the first experiments were performed, demonstrating the suitability of the developed bioinks for producing engineered tissues. IBEC-CERCA successfully proved the printability of complex 3D gut tissue structures, mimicking the crypt and villi microfeatures of the in-vivo tissue, in an accurate and reproducible manner. First epithelized gut tissues were cultured up to 19 days and immunostained to check the main cellular markers, that were colocalized and expressed as their in vivo counterparts; proving the functionality of the constructs. In parallel, protocols for sample handling, transferring and culture into standard cell culture systems were developed and optimized, as well as other functional tests to entirely characterize the bioprinted tissues. Advances in skin and cornea tissues by TECH team showed promising results with the developed bioinks, promoting cellular spreading, migration and function.
A business case for a valid business offering has been formulated by interacting with stakeholders, utilising business case development strategies for deep tech innovations, and carrying out an innovation workshops. A spin-out company, Modulux3D, is being formed by a team stemming from GUF in Frankfurt and consisting of three researchers and a business developer. A business case has been formulated to address the need of high-speed, high-resolution bioprinters that can produce detailed three-dimensional biostructures. The primary market initially is academic and pharmaceutical development laboratories.
