Bioprinted platform for parallelized screening of engineered microtissues in vivo

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Regenerative Medicine
• Tissue Engineering

Background:

• Human engineered tissues offer therapeutic potential for regeneration and repair.
• In vivo studies are crucial but complex and time-consuming for engineered tissue development.
• Current methods face challenges in evaluating diverse cell and material compositions in vivo.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel platform for parallelized in vivo screening of engineered tissues.
• To accelerate the identification of optimal engineered tissue formulations for therapeutic applications.
• To overcome limitations in current in vivo testing methodologies.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 3D-printed device enabling parallelized host apposition (PHAST).
• Screening of 43 distinct three-dimensional microtissues within a single in vivo experiment.
• Evaluation of microtissue formulations with varying cellular and material components.

Main Results:

• Identification of specific engineered tissue formulations supporting vascular graft-host inosculation.
• Demonstration of engineered liver tissue function in vivo using the PHAST platform.
• Discovery that optimal cellular composition for engineered tissues is material-dependent.

Conclusions:

• The PHAST platform significantly accelerates in vivo screening of engineered tissues.
• PHAST facilitates the identification of effective tissue formulations for regeneration and repair.
• This technology has the potential to expedite the clinical translation of tissue engineering therapies.