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 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.
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.”
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.