Laying Pipes

A thriving community can’t move into a brand new building until a full network of plumbing is in place. The same applies in tissue engineering. To support cell growth at a useful scale in a supportive hydrogel environment, the structures need rapid vascularisation – the formation of vessels to transport nutrients and other materials. A new approach encourages this at two scales, creating both large open channels and dense clusters of microcapillaries (tiny vessel networks) with a new bio-ink called gelatin-norbornene, which is compatible with standard 3D bioprinting methods. It enables cells that form connective tissue and vessel linings to assemble into shape (pictured, with red connective cells bridging across channels to allow green vessel lining cells to migrate across). This combination of a new bio-ink with cell biology and custom structural designs can help engineer vascularised tissues, essential for developing tissue engineering to ultimately help patients in need.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Anthony Lewis

Writer

Ant was the web editor in the early days of BPoD, and has since worked with the UK’s top science organisations as a writer and multimedia producer. He now splits his time between freelance work and managing multimedia at The Lancet.

Website

• Image from work by Bram G. Soliman and colleagues, Light Activated Biomaterials (LAB) Group
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Otago Christchurch, Christchurch, New Zealand
• Image supplied and copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, January 2022