Made in Russia: Three-dimensional bioprinter
The first domestic 3D bioprinter Fabion is presented
"Nanometer"Bioprinting of organs and tissues on 3D printers has finally reached Russia.
This new technology, implying the layer-by-layer production of living components from real cells using a computer model, has already saved many lives and has significantly improved. And now Russia has entered the race to create the perfect machine for printing organs: at the International Forum "Open Innovations", held from October 16 to 18, 2014 in Moscow, the first domestic 3D bioprinter called FABION was presented.
The developers were specialists from the Russian Laboratory of Biotechnological Research 3D Bioprinting Solutions, the main investor of which is the company INVITRO and, in particular, its founder Alexander Yuryevich Ostrovsky.
The team of researchers first of all carefully studied all sixteen bioprinting projects that exist today all over the world. Each printer has its own original design, and our compatriots also wanted to create a unique product that could compete with foreign analogues. After eight months of hard work, bioengineers completed the initial development of the FABION project in September 2014.
The principle of its operation can be compared with that of an ordinary office printer: ink, paper, a computer model (what exactly needs to be printed) and some mechanism that will start the process are needed for printing. As ink, or rather, biochernil, the technology uses so–called tissue spheroids - spherical aggregates of cells that will form a tissue or organ. Which one exactly depends on which cells the spheroid is made of. The role of paper is a hydrogel, which serves as a framework for building a tissue or organ: spheroids are embedded in a relatively thick layer of this substance, where the latter fuse with each other, forming a tight bond, and the hydrogel provides living elements with a nutrient medium and at the same time holds them together.
As for the computer model, in addition to knowledge about the structure and functioning of organs and tissues, a special program is needed to create it. In 3D Bioprinting Solutions, scientists have written their own platform in which you can build models of almost any organs and tissues, as well as import any projects from other computer programs into it.
The mechanism that drives the entire printing system is based on the work of an industrial robot capable of moving in all directions, and five nozzles that release biomaterial.
The robot, controlled by a computer program in real time, is equipped with a positional system with high resolution. As the lead developer, Professor Vladimir Mironov, explains, it is this system that allows you to adjust the flow of material extremely precisely so that you can create a three-dimensional structure.
The five nozzles, which are also a key element of the new 3D bioprinter, are divided into two types. Three of them produce tissue spheroids, and the other two layer biogel. Professor Mironov notes that, unlike a number of Western models, FABION deals with biogel and spheroids separately, so if the biogel needs to be exposed to ultraviolet radiation, this harmless light will not touch the spheroids.
In addition to the high precision of layering biological materials, scientists emphasize another advantage of FABION technology – versatility. As explained in the press release of INVITRO, the bioprinter works with all currently available methods of three-dimensional bioprinting. Moreover, if desired, they can be combined and create more and more complex living systems.
On Wednesday, October 22, 2014, the first International Conference on 3D Bioprinting and Biofacturing in Russia will end, in which the 3D Bioprinting Solutions Laboratory takes a direct part and is also its organizer. At the event, Mironov and his colleagues will share their plans for the future and talk about their "hyper–goal" - to print a fully functioning kidney from induced pluripotent human stem cells on their own invention.
In the meantime, Russian inventors have a simpler goal: to print a thyroid gland on a "Fabion" from rat stem cells by March 15, 2015.
"Some people say that this is science fiction, that nothing can be done at all. I believe that if Russia prints an organ for the first time in the world, it will be an achievement equal in importance to Gagarin's flight into space. And we are moving towards this," Vladimir Mironov said at the Open Innovations press conference.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru05.11.2014