Two UBC students are at the forefront of the newest realm of 3D printing: the ability to print human tissue.
No longer relegated to the sci-fi world or Silicon Valley startups, 3D printing now has the ability to create functioning car parts, musical instruments or guns, with nothing more than a digital scan and a copious supply of plastic filament.
Tamer Mohamed and Simon Bayer, graduate students in computer and electrical engineering from UBC, are taking 3D printing to the next level.
“The concept is similar to [regular] 3D printing, the difference being that the inputs into our printer are real living cellular material extracted from human donors,” explained Mohamed. “Upon completion of the printing process, these printed structures undergo an incubation and culturing process, eventually forming tissues that exhibit desired traits based on the interests of our customers.”
Customers tend to be from the pre-clinical drug discovery industry, an industry with a vested interest in obtaining a more accurate alternative to animal testing.
“For a lot of different diseases, animal models behave very differently from humans,” said Beyer. “One example is lung fibrosis, a disease which has hundreds of cures for mice but none of which translate to humans.”
Tackling inefficacy and unethical practices in animal testing are key issues for Tamer and Simon, which is why they view their 3D bioprinter as a possible solution.
“The 3D printing approach actually mitigates a lot of the potential ethical issues that already exist,” said Beyer.
Other issues that would be solved by the team’s bioprinter would be more practical problems. For example, by using the patient’s own cells to regenerate their lost tissue, the major hurdle of transplant rejection is avoided, as well as solving the issue of organ donors.
Mohamed admits that there may still be some specific cases where animal testing cannot be avoided, but said that Aspect Biosystems is making the elimination of animal testing one of their primary long-term goals.
It remains to be seen how successful Aspect Biosystems will be at delivering on their aspirational promises. However, they already have two commercial contracts and thousands of dollars acquired in seed funding.