In a resin cube on a suspended platform, a glass pipette 3D prints mammal cells as individual droplets of water. The goal of this process is to create three-dimensional tissues that match the behaviour and structure of those in the human body.
At a scale低于200微米，该方法提供3D生物打印，以创建蜂窝级复杂性所需的高分辨率。
A breakthrough in tissue engineering, the droplet-based 3D printer as been developed by a multidisciplinary team of scientists at the University of Oxford and the University of Bristol in the UK.
复杂的生物
活细胞很难处理，要成为组织，必须将它们设计成复杂的多层结构。
脚手架是组织培养的一种流行方法, but they aren’t failsafe. At some point of the process supportive structures have to be removed. Cells added to the scaffolds can also move and, if a soft structure, the structures can collapse on themselves.
“迄今为止，印刷组织的例子有限，它们具有本地组织的复杂细胞结构。”牛津的亚历山大·格雷厄姆博士说，基于液滴的3D生物打印研究的合着者，“因此，我们专注于设计一个来自相对廉价的组件的高分辨率细胞打印平台，这些平台可用于可重复地产生具有适当复杂性的人造组织，包括来自包括包括一系列细胞的复杂性干细胞。”
肾脏和软骨
The research led by the Bayley Research Group and School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine has been published open access in the journalScientific Reports.
In the paper, the team demonstrates an ability to 3D print human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells and sheep stem cells (oMSCs) at tissue relevant densities.
当转移到培养基中时，HEK平均表现出90％的生存力。
Notably, after 5 weeks of culture, the 3D bioprinted oMSCs differentiated into the cellular lineage of cartilage.
生物打印突破
就精确度而言，牛津和布里斯托尔的研究是该领域的突破。
Dr Adam Perriman from the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol注释，
“The bioprinting approach developed by Bristol’s School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine in partnership with Oxford University is very exciting, as the cellular constructs can be printed efficiently at extremely high resolution with very little waste.”
“与成年干细胞打印并仍然使它们具有区分的能力是显着的，并且确实表明了这种新方法在全球影响再生医学的潜力。”
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特色图像：由牛津大学和布里斯托大学开发的3D液滴生物生产商。Sam Olof的照片
