News –
11 september 2020 – 15:00
Researchers from Utrecht University and UMCU are developing a 3D printer that can reproduce parts of the human body, including living cells, within minutes. This could be used to test drugs outside the body.
Riccardo Levato, researcher at Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht, has received an ERC grant for this.
A classic 3D printer is like a pastry chef who prepares a cake layer after layer. The printer sprays a quick-drying plastic in a two-dimensional shape onto a surface, after which a second coat can be applied, and so on.
Although 3D printers can now handle body-friendly, flexible materials containing living cells, the layering principle – just like the preparation of a whipped cream cake – remains a time-consuming process, whereby the survival of the cells is greatly reduced.
Together with colleagues from the technical university of Lausanne, Levato is working on what is called volumetric bioprinting. With this technique, a printer does not build the 3D model in layers, but it is created in a rotating container with a liquid gel that solidifies when it comes into contact with laser light. By illuminating the container from different angles, a three-dimensional image is created in the gel.
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