Indiana University Researchers Pioneer Use of Innovative 3D Bioprinter

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• Karl Koehler, Ph.D., assistant professor of otolaryngology-head & neck surgery, who has been working on techniques to create inner ear tissues in a collaboration with Eri Hashino, Ph.D., Ruth C. Holton Professor of Otology. "With our model, we hope to create cranial tissues, such as inner ear and skin," Dr. Koehler said.
• John Foley, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy and cell biology in Bloomington, plans to use the printer to help with his lab's research into the cellular signaling that produces and maintains the specialized skin of the nipple areola and eventually to regenerate the tissue for use in breast reconstruction following mastectomy.
• Nutan Prasain, Ph.D., assistant research professor in the Wells Center for Pediatric Research, and his team have been using the machine to make blood vessels from umbilical cord blood and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived endothelial colony forming cells in collaboration with Mervin C. Yoder, M.D., Richard and Pauline Klingler Professor of Pediatrics. "We believe these printed vessels could be used as implantable vessels for vascular repair," Dr. Yoder said.
• Melissa Kacena, Ph.D., associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, said that in collaboration with Tien-Min Gabriel Chu, D.D.S., Ph.D., associate dean for research, IU School of Dentistry, and Diane Wagner, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering at IUPUI, she hopes to use the printer to construct segments of bone for laboratory testing. "Should this approach be successful, in the future we envision using the patients’ own cells to create a patient-specific, anatomically shaped bone segment to replace one that is missing due to injury or disease," Dr. Kacena said.
• Hiroki Yokota, Ph.D., professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering, and of anatomy and cell biology, plans to use the instrument to study the bone metastasis of cancer cells, as well as some musculoskeletal applications.

Dr. Burr predicted that the use of bioprinted tissue as replacement tissue following traumatic injury is no more than a decade away. Having such a machine on campus enables researchers to to do the necessary hands-on work to create the initial cell constructs and engineer the proper geometries and configurations, he said.

The interest shown by Dr. Moldovan and others in Indianapolis, including Keith March, M.D., director of the Indiana Center for Vascular Biology and Medicine, was instrumental in the agreement reached by Cyfuse and IU, said Cyfuse representative Steven Boikess.

"There is a lot to be learned and gained on both sides from this relationship. I think it's very clear that Cyfuse is passionate about helping the researchers at IUPUI generate the best constructs possible to give the best chance of success," Boikess said.

Under the agreement, IU is leasing the $450,000 instrument while preparing a National Institutes of Health instrument grant proposal that would enable outright purchase of the machine.

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