Photoenzymatic Bioprinting

Inventors at Stanford University have developed a light-based 3D printing system that achieves high printing resolutions and fast printing speeds with cell-compatible natural protein biomaterials when compared to existing methods. The invention uses a device that patterns light from an LED source into a polymerization bath, where polymerization of a protein-based biomaterial is induced by a light-regulated biocatalyst. Additionally, the light-regulated enzyme is activated and inhibited at different wavelengths to improve resolution. A motor moves the build platform to enable layer-by-layer printing of horizontal planes in the resulting 3D object. Preliminary data suggests that the photoenzymatic bioprinting system enables high resolution patterns of 3D scaffolds, with high cell viability and functional behavior.

Stage of Development
The authors have built and tested a successful prototype of the invention and are working to characterize and optimize the parameter space.