3D printed “bones” are made at room temperature for the first time with a special living cell gel

A new innovation allows scientists to 3D print human bones from a person’s own living cells and, for the first time, the process has been performed at room temperature.

A team from the Australian University of New South Wales-Sydney created a “bio-ink” gel that contains a patient’s living bone cells in a solution of calcium phosphate, which are minerals needed for bone formation and maintenance.

Using a technique known as omnidirectional ceramic bioimpression in cell suspensions (COBICS), the gel is printed in 3D directly into the patient’s bone cavity instead of surgeons having to remove a piece from a different location.

The material hardens after a few minutes of exposure to body fluids and becomes mechanically interlocking bone nanocrystals.

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A new innovation allows scientists to 3D print human bones from a person’s own living cells and, for the first time, the process has been performed at room temperature

The action of printing structures that mimic bones in 3D is not new, but the University of New South Wales-Sydney method allows the process to be done at room temperature for the first time.

This means that bones can be created inside a medical room, along with the use of the patient’s own living cells.

Dr Iman Roohani, of the UNSW School of Chemistry, said: “This is a unique technology that can produce structures that closely mimic bone tissue.”

“It could be used in clinical applications where there is a high demand for in situ repair of bone defects such as those caused by trauma, cancer or where a large piece of tissue is resected.”

A team from the Australian University of New South Wales Sydney created a “bio-ink” gel that contains the patient’s bone cells in a solution of calcium phosphate, which are minerals needed for training and bone maintenance.

Prior to this work, if a patient needed a piece of bone, doctors would have to remove a section from a different location on the body.

And 3D printing was only available by going first to a lab to make the structures with high-temperature furnaces and toxic chemicals.

Associate Professor Kristopher Kilian, who jointly developed the advanced technology, said: “This produces a dry material that is then taken to a clinical environment or a laboratory, where it is washed abundantly and then living cells are added.” says Professor Kilian.

Using a technique known as omnidirectional ceramic bioimpression on cell suspensions (COBICS), the gel is printed in 3D directly into the patient’s bone cavity instead of surgeons having to remove a piece from a different location.

According to scientists, the special ink made for the process forms a structure chemically similar to bone building blocks.

“The most interesting thing about our technique is that you can extrude it directly to a place where there are cells, like a cavity in the patient’s bone. We can go directly into the bone where there are cells, vessels. blood and fat and print a bone-like structure that already contains living cells, right in this area.

“There are currently no technologies that can do this directly.”

According to scientists, the special ink made for the process forms a structure chemically similar to bone building blocks.

“The ink is formulated in such a way that the conversion is fast and non-toxic in a biological environment and only starts when the ink is exposed to body fluids, providing ample working time to the end user, for example, surgeons “, Said Dr. Roohani.

He explains that the ink combines with a collagenous substance that contains living cells, “allows the in situ fabrication of bone tissue that may be suitable for bone tissue engineering, disease modeling, drug detection and in situ bone reconstruction and osteochondral defects. ‘