3D Bioprinting Takes Another Step Forward with Launch of First Living Cellular Bioink Kits

Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between news about advances in medicine and the plot for a B movie horror film. The latest developments related to bioprinting are just that kind of material and yet they are part of what is actually happening as medicine and 3D printing technology continue to work together. Just this week, CELLINK and RoosterBio have announced a partnership that allows them to pool their complementary technologies and make Cellular Bioink Kits commercially available.

These kits will enable high-fidelity mixing and printing of living cellular constructs by combining RoosterBio’s stem cell systems with the universal bioinks that have been created by CELLINK. This combination provides the materials needed for a wide variety of commercial applications such as the creation of human tissue needed for research and testing. In fact, continued experimentation made possible through these materials could ultimately lead to the ability to create replacement organs for patients in need of a transplant.

These kits promise to simplify and streamline the process for bioprinting living cellular constructs, reducing the timeline for beginning biomaterial-stem cell research from years to just a few days. Obviously, cutting the preparatory time to a minimum means that more time is available to dedicate directly to research and also reduces the cost of the initial setup itself. These kits represent the first commercially available, plug-and-play living cellular bioinks and are widely available for both commercial and academic use.

As knowledge and technology advance, it is becoming increasingly clear that no one field, individual, or area has all the resources necessary to make the enormous discoveries and contributions required to push either further. From academia to business, the benefits of cross-disciplinary collaboration have been demonstrated time and time again. The greatest innovations occur when seemingly disparate fields engage each other to find connections previously unimagined. It is just this type of belief in the power of the collaborative environment that lies behind this partnership.

Co-founder of CELLINK Erik Gatenholm described the philosophy that led these two companies to work together:

“Innovation is no longer emerging form solo developments within one single organization. Modern innovation and the future of the medical industry is driven by collaborative efforts made by multiple players thinking outside the box. As biomaterial and Bioink experts we must therefore surround ourselves with other experts, such as RoosterBio, to complement and expand our product offerings and synchronize our efforts towards the ultimate vision: to one day reduce the shortage of supply in the organ donor market with 3D Bioprinting technologies. This revolutionary, cost effective, and elegantly simple-to-use Bioprinting Kit is exactly what innovators and early adopters worldwide need to propel their research in the tissue-engineering field. By offering a complete package of the right bioink together with the right cells we can finally establish the first standard in the bioprinting industry.”

The kits were given their debut in front of an audience at the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society World Congress in Boston, MA. The potential benefits were immediately clear to the audience who greeted their introduction with great interest.

That excitement came as no surprise to Jon Rowley, CEO of RoosterBio, who explained the enthusiasm present in both that audience and in the collaborating companies:

“It has long been appreciated that technological revolutions are driven by the availability of easy to use and inexpensive kits. RoosterBio’s partnership with CELLINK underscores this ethos and solves multiple challenges in the emerging bioprinting marketplace. Our combined technologies will help democratize tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting technology – enabling a much larger audience to gain access to know-how that has typically taken years to establish. We are very excited for our initial products, and future products to come.”

Let us know your thoughts on these new kits.  Discuss in the CELLINK forum thread on 3DPB.com.