St. Petersburg Bioprinter
St. Petersburg State University students have developed a prototype printer for 3D printing of human tissues
The Bioprinter team has created a prototype 3D printer that will print biological tissues and help to conduct research in laboratories more efficiently and faster, and in the future - to print organs for transplants. The students' development was passed to the final of the "Start-up of St. Petersburg State University – 2021" competition.
Two extruders and a cleaner inside
There are many companies in the world engaged in 3D bioprinting, but in Russia does not yet have a single one that would launch their mass production. Well–known models are quite expensive, besides, almost all of them have only one extruder - a device that produces printing. Most biological tissues cannot be printed accurately enough in this way. St. Petersburg State University students decided to independently create a printer with two extruders and the necessary basic functions that can be used for different purposes.
The captain of the team "Bioprinter", a second-year graduate student in the direction of "Physics" Timur Aminev:
For printing with biomaterials, the purity of the air is important, therefore, a special laminar flow cabinet is used in laboratories to create sterile conditions. To simplify the work, we decided to integrate this function into the printer's print area. Such a device can be placed on a regular desktop and start printing without special preparation.
Another advantage of the development is the low cost. Today, few laboratories can afford to purchase expensive bioprinters and adapt them to their needs. In addition, researchers are forced to purchase such devices abroad, and if they break down, repair them from the manufacturer. This takes a lot of time and increases the cost of equipment. To solve this problem, the students took over the printer design and software development. According to team captain Timur Aminev, even small laboratories will be able to afford a 3D bioprinter "in a minimal configuration": participants assume that their device will cost about 300 thousand rubles, which is several times cheaper than existing analogues.
Instead of plastic – biopolymers
The main difference between a 3D bioprinter and a conventional 3D printing device lies in the material used: instead of plastic, the extruder supplies biomaterials and biopolymers for printing, with which you can create biological tissues (for example, skin for people who lost it in fires), and in the future - print whole organs for transplants.
"Our project has two options for configuration: the most functional and the most inexpensive. We will present the second sample printer with all the necessary options as a startup project. It will allow modern laboratories to "grow" tissues and conduct more accurate research. We use a universal structural profile for it, and we create extruders ourselves, which reduces the cost of finished equipment," said Timur Aminev, captain of the Bioprinter team, a second–year graduate student in Physics.
In the test sample that the team presents at the competition, two printing extruders of different types are used. A piston with two thermal zones will print bio-substances, and a cell suspension will be supplied from a syringe extruder. In short, one material will be complemented by another. With this method of printing, a suspension is fed from a syringe with a needle of a very small diameter, forming a small drop. Then the syringe touches the work surface, the drop remains on it, and the syringe moves to another point and repeats the procedure. This is how cells populate a frame made of biomaterial that has been printed by a piston extruder. This approach will help print more samples, which will speed up research.
Interest in development
The idea of creating a 3D bioprinter came to the development team about two years ago. The Design Workshop of St. Petersburg State University allocated funds for the creation of the first model. Last year, aspiring entrepreneurs already took part in the startup competition, but could not go beyond the qualifying stage. Today, the modified project allowed them to reach the final of the competition and compete for the main prize – a million rubles for the development of their startup.
In addition, the team is currently cooperating with the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In order to find partners among scientific organizations, the developers modeled a sample of their printer and sent it to laboratories in St. Petersburg that are engaged in 3D bioprinting. The Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences responded to the request and became interested in the development of St. Petersburg State University students – their bioprinter in the future can help in the creation and research of artificial cartilage tissues.
Of course, the authors of the project note, one printer will not be enough to work with biomaterials and create organs using 3D printing. Creating samples of, say, artificial leather requires strict working conditions: clean air, sterile storage and carefully adjusted production.
The development of St. Petersburg State University students can help laboratories that are engaged in simpler tasks – for example, they study the behavior of tissues grown in a Petri dish. Such fabrics can be printed on a printer and more accurate and faster studies can be carried out. At the same time, the bioprinter can be improved and, in the future, organs and tissues can be printed on it for clinical use.
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The competition "Start-up of St. Petersburg State University" takes place in This is the sixth time at the University. The teams that presented the most high-tech and commercially promising business models will receive cash prizes from the St. Petersburg State University Endowment Fund. The first place will bring 300,000 rubles, the second – 200,000 rubles, and the third – 100,000 rubles. In addition, the two winning teams may be offered to create together with University small innovative enterprises. Grants for their development will amount to 1,000,000 and 700,000 rubles. Detailed information about the "Start-up of St. Petersburg State University – 2021" competition can be found on the website of the St. Petersburg State University Endowment Fund.
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