Biogelx in Brazil: New Collaboration for Research Tissue Bioprinting Inks

Throughout the years we have been following the success of startups that have originated from the academic field. Universities around the world foster the spirit of entrepreneurship by encouraging both students and professors to develop ideas and commercialize them. In Glasgow, UK, one company has pioneered the development of synthetic materials for 3D cell culture and bioprinting applications, Biogelx. Born as a spin-out of the University of Strathclyde in 2013, its founders quickly understood that they needed to focus on short and medium-term bioprinting objectives; that is, seek to create synthetical bioinks for drug development, to improve test processes and reduce costs. Now, they are moving even further as they recently announced a collaboration with 3D Biotechnology Solutions (3DBS), a leading 3D bioprinting and electrospinning technologies manufacturer in Brazil.

The collaboration will focus on bringing together the strengths of both companies to offer complete, tissue-specific bioprinting solutions with lower lead time in the Brazilian market, which will be useful for applications in regenerative medicine and drug discovery.

The joint effort is part of an international growth strategy program at Biogelx which aims to target public and private research institutions, universities and research consortiums in the Brazilian market. 

Sandy Bulloch

“Over the past six years, we have built a reputation as the leading synthetic 3D cell culture scaffold brand.  Working with 3DBS allows us to transform how we scale our business to provide a complete bioprinting platform for multiple cell culture applications,” suggested Sandy Bulloch, Director of Strategic Alliances at Biogelx. “This collaboration will accelerate the pace of our bioprinting innovation to provide the next generation of 3D tissue models.”

In its early years, Biogelx developed hydrogels of synthetic peptides for cell culture applications. But after building on the success of its core technology, the company went on to design and develop a novel bioink product family: Biogelx™-INKs. According to the company, these hydrogel-based inks are biocompatible and easily printable, exhibiting excellent shear-thinning properties, which reduce the stress experienced by cells when subjected to the printing process. However, the key differentiator of these bioinks is the unique mix of their properties, which ensure versatility and consistency for bioprinting applications across many tissue types/cell lines. Today, Biogelx has become a leading synthetic peptide hydrogel manufacturer and has gained a global reputation in the area of 3D cell culture for both regenerative medicine and drug discovery.

Biogelx and 3DBS will be uniting to bring together the strengths of both companies to offer complete, tissue-specific bioprinting solutions for researchers in Brazil and to enable Brazilian customers to reduce lead time and logistic costs by purchasing Biogelx-INK products from 3DBS directly, they are already on sale at the 3DBS shop for local purchase. 

Working in the field of tissue engineering, 3DBS has developed bioprinters, components for electrospinning technology, and now bioinks. One of the company’s main objectives is to participate in the construction of the future of regenerative medicine by developing equipment and applications capable of generating functional tissues. Via the partnership, 3DBS will provide specific bioinks for a variety of applications in Brazil that will support developing research projects, keeping the company’s goal in mind, which is to enable the construction of living human tissues. 

Pedro Massaguer

“At 3DBS, our vision is to be a significant contributor to the construction of the future of regenerative medicine. By enabling customers to work with Biogelx-INKs using our bioprinters, such as Genesis, Reactor or Octopus, we are getting one step closer to our revolutionary goal. Together, we have the opportunity to deliver more tissue-specific like constructs for applications in regenerative medicine and drug discovery,” said Pedro Massaguer, co-founder and Innovation Strategist at 3DBS.

The bioprinting ecosystem in Brazil would benefit from a partnership like this, which could accelerate research efforts in the country. During our previous interviews with Brazilian 3D company founders, one thing stands out: they have once and again mentioned how much the country needs innovation to become a competitive force in the 3D printing and bioprinting worlds, and collaborations with European and North American established companies could bring them one step closer to their goal.

[Images: Biogelx and 3DBS]