3D bioprinting is one of the frontiers of regenerative medicine as it enables 3D printing of human tissues and organs using biocompatible materials. This branch of science combines knowledge and skills from different disciplines: biology and biotechnologies, materials science and engineering, medicine and physics. A major challenge for 3D bioprinting scientists is to build fully functioning organs to be used for transplantation or for research purposes. It is a complex challenge if we consider that most of human tissue is composed of different cell types and well-defined architectures that perform specific functions.

How does 3D bioprinting work? A 3D printer, through specific software, deposits layers of bioink and creates tissue constructs in laboratory.  Finding a proper bioink is not easy as it must be compatible with cells, have adequate mechanical property and, not least, create an architecture where cells can live in, communicate with each other and continue to perform their functions. And creating highly elastic or highly vascularized tissues in laboratory can be even more difficult.

A research team led by Dr. Nasim Annabi of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California succeeded in engineering a bioink capable of providing elasticity and resilience to 3D bioprinted constructs by developing a polymer containing a human protein, tropoelastin, that is the precursor of elastin (the protein responsible for the elasticity of our body). These constructs, once they have been “filled” with cardiac cells, enable spontaneous contraction of cardiac cells, elicit minimal inflammatory responses and are not subject to a fast degradation. The research, which has been published in October in Advanced Material and financed by the American Heart Association and National Institute of Health, opens new interesting scenarios in the field of regeneration of damaged cardiac tissues.