Speaker
Prof. Dr. Riccardo Levato
Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht and Department of Clinical Sciences Faculty of Utrecht University, The Netherlands Veterinary Medicine
Host
Prof. Dr. Aránzazu del Campo
Abstract
Light-powered control of materials and biological processes in biofabrication
Unlocking technologies that can steer the spatial and temporal evolution of tissues during development, disease and repair, holds the key to realizing the ambition of tissue engineering, that is, producing functional tissues for regenerative medicine and for modelling human biology. Biofabrication technologies and the precise spatial and temporal control over stimuli that determine cell functions, can be used to drive synthetic morphogenesis, and permit the emergence of organ-level functions that are lacking in insufficiently organized structures. Using visible light volumetric bioprinting technologies, protein-derived photoresponsive hydrogels and synthetic biology tools, complex mini-organ models, also termed organoids, can be safely assembled into centimeter scale living tissues in a matter of few seconds. Herein, the most recent advances in light-driven biofabrication will be presented, together with our efforts to engineer functional blood vessels, breast gland tissue, and pancreatic tissues as advanced biological models, using organoids as living building blocks. Challenges in recreating vascularized environments can be addressed converging light-based volumetric printing with microgel-based printable materials, as well as via combining VBP other fabrication techniques, such as extrusion-based bioprinting and melt electrowriting. Moreover, multi-color light stimuli and remotely applied 3D fields open up new possibilities for spatially controlling the patterning of growth factor and biochemical signals, as well as to directly guide cell behavior, and to extract valuable information from the cells populating the engineered tissues that smart. With this optical datasets, AI-powered printers can create constructs that match the metabolic demands of the embedded cells. Altogether, the convergence of expertise from materials chemistry, engineering, biology and physics opens up new avenues for building constructs to better understand human biology.