Development of a Microfluidic Open Source 3D bioprinting System (MOS3S) for the engineering of hierarchical tissues

Abstract

The development of 3D bioprinting has shown great promise in the field of tissue engineering and disease modelling. However, the high cost of commercial 3D bioprinters has limited their accessibility, especially to those laboratories in resource-limited settings. Moreover, the need for a 3D bioprinting system capable of handling multi-material is growing. Therefore, the development of low-cost 3D bioprinters is necessary to make this technology accessible to a wider range of researchers. We have developed a customized, open-source, low-cost 3D bioprinter based on a commercial fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer to address this issue. The bioprinter is designed to print biomaterials for tissue engineering purposes using a coaxial nozzle for in situ cross-linking the biomaterial, and it includes three syringe pumps that can also be used to deliver liquid in microfluidic chips. The affordability of our bioprinter is a significant advantage, as it makes it accessible to a broader spectrum of users, working in different fields such as tissue engineering, drug discovery, and disease modeling. The open-source nature of the bioprinter also allows for easy customization and adaptation to specific research needs. The performance of the 3D bioprinter has been validated by constructing lattice scaffolds which are being widely used in tissue engineering.