The Future of Additive Manufacturing for Regenerative Medicine

Image courtesy of Dimension Inx

Over the past few decades, additive manufacturing has garnered significant research attention. Its application prospects in the field of medicine, in particular, are quite promising. Each individual’s anatomy functions differently: the better the fit, the better the patient outcome. In the health care sector, additive manufacturing has been used to create 3D models for surgical planning, bespoke implants, orthodontic aligners and drilling guides, which can help decrease procedure time, reduce medical errors, and provide practitioners with additional information before they even step into the operating theatre. These macroscopic applications beg the question—can this technology be used to influence the body on the microscopic scale?

Dimension Inx, an Illinois-based regenerative medicine company, is tackling this challenge head-on. The organization primarily focuses on developing therapeutic solutions for restoring tissue and organ function. It is currently deep into its research on the benefits of using 3D printing to create microenvironments that can direct cells to engage in certain behavior. This can, in turn, accelerate the healing process.

Dimension Inx’s goal is to use 3D printing to replace dysfunctional tissue with healthy, patient-specific tissue, which can facilitate the repair and regeneration of human organs. This has enormous implications for worldwide health care outcomes: 3D printing, in combination with the use of stem cells, can significantly reduce mortality in patients who are waiting for suitable organ donors. Further, it can reduce health care costs by approximately $1 trillion annually in the United States alone. In combination, these two factors could have immense repercussions on the global medical sector.

The Underlying Principles of Bioprinting

There are three ingredients necessary to begin “engineering” biology, so to speak: the cells themselves, the extracellular matrix and cues. In short, the matrix forms the “skeleton” around the cells, and the cues form the basis for the interactions between the cells and the matrix, profoundly affecting the former’s proliferation.

However, most research and funding focuses on optimizing and improving the cells themselves. There is a profound dearth of research on the cues (or microenvironments of the cells), which act as the blueprint for cell action. This is particularly of concern because cells can’t simply be injected into the body and expected to perform their tasks effectively. Although integral to the process, the cells alone cannot regenerate damaged tissue and restore function. Particular combinations of these cells and cues need to be engineered to achieve the desired results.

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