Engineering of a tissue construct that mimics a native tissue’s form and function requires mimicry of the material, chemical, and morphological properties of the target tissue. Matching of these very properties makes fabrication of a composite structure challenging. The authors present a collection of techniques used to create multilayer three-dimensional soft-tissue constructs with high-resolution interlayer registration of individually printed two-dimensional patterns. These techniques include a bioreactor platform integrating NRL’s Biological Laser Printing (BioLPTM) for quick and reproducible printing, culturing, and stacking of individual biopapers. The bioreactors were designed to mount and culture laser machined, stainless steel framed collagen biopapers. The biopapers in turn allowed for handling and high-resolution (<100 μm) registration of otherwise difficult to handle hydrogels. The authors demonstrate printing of endothelial cells onto the biopapers and culturing and tubulogenesis within the bioreactor. They also demonstrate high-resolution interlayer registration of biopapers individually printed with fluorescent beads.
Russell K. Pirlo, Peter K. Wu, Bradley R. Ringeisen, "Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing of Soft, Three-Dimensional, Multilayer, Biological Constructs via Laser Printing onto Laser Machined Composite Biopapers" in Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, 2014, pp 040401-1 - 040401-7, https://doi.org/10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2014.58.4.040401