Date of Award
December 2017
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biomedical and Chemical Engineering
Advisor(s)
Pranav Soman
Keywords
3D Printing, Bioprinting, Scaffolds
Subject Categories
Engineering
Abstract
The scarcity of organs for patients that need transplants has led to exceedingly
lengthy waits for organ transplants for sick patients. Fabrication of tissues and organ
constructs in-vitro has potential to end the shortage, however many of the machines
used to create these tissues and organs are expensive, not easy to use, and do not
have any further practical applications. Bioprinting technology has the potential to
revolutionize the fabrication of biological constructs that can be used as in vitro model
tissues and vivo substitutes. Bioprinting is the process of using conventional 3D printing
methods and computer-aided-design (CAD) to create patient and user specific
constructs with biological material. 3D printers are ideal for low volume customizable
parts, and when these parts can be made of living cells and biomaterials these
machines become ideal for cell based research. Converting commercially available 3D
printers into biomanufacturing units answers several problems that are faced by
researchers, namely: the ability to create 3D multicomponent system creating
multicellular interfaces in cell culture, and the ability to study cells in a true 3D
environment. Although biological tissues have a range of cell types and material
properties, current bioprinting methods are limited in their ability to print multiple
materials simultaneously, especially tissues with vastly different material properties. For
instance, printing of soft gels alongside a hard-structural material remains a challenge,
as the thermal, mechanical, and biochemical parameters during the printing process
must be maintained in an appropriate range to ensure high viability of living cells.
Therefore, to truly realize the potential of bioprinting within the biomedical community,
new capabilities that allow multi-material bioprinting are needed. The goal of this work is
to enable four capabilities using commercially available inexpensive 3D printers: (i)
printing of new thermoplastics, (ii) printing of structural thermoplastic material alongside
soft biomaterials (iii) printing two soft biomaterials and/or cell types using conventional
extrusion printing, and (iv) printing soft biomaterials that do not possess the necessary
material properties for conventional extrusion printing. Results from this work will
democratize bioprinting technology by driving down the cost of entry into the field, and
will enable its use in solving important challenges in the field of tissue engineering.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Albrecht, Lucas D., "Modifications to commercial printers to enable multi-material fabrication of 3D cellular scaffolds" (2017). Theses - ALL. 181.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/181
