Spanish researchers manage to print human tissues in 3D

The development of the research has the help of BQ with its printers

   A team of Spanish researchers has managed to print human tissues (bone and cartilage) to implant them in the body of patients with breaks or injuries. This advance in bioprinting will allow replacing metal prostheses with implants created with the patient's own cells, regenerating tissue in people with bone diseases and avoiding clinical trials in animals.

The group of experts, made up of engineers and scientists from the Complutense University of Madrid and the CSIC (ICTP - Group of Biomaterials of Luis-Rodríguez Lorenzo, member of the CIBER-BBN), prints polycaprolactone (PCL) grids in 3D, in the that the extracted cells are deposited to the patient by means of a needle added to the extruder of the printer.

   The cells reproduce, invade the PCL and replace it with a natural material, bone or cartilage. For the project, they use 3D printers donated by the Spanish company BQ (Hephestos 2 and Witbox 2), which has advised them technically during the process.

The researchers are studying two ways to implant the tissue in the patient. The first is to introduce the grid with the cells in the broken part of the bone or cartilage so that they regenerate inside the body. The second is to create an ecosystem in the laboratory so that the cells rebuild the human tissue, which would then be implanted in the patient.

Being created with the patient's own cells and their size, the possibility of rejection of these implants is much less than that of metal prostheses. Nieves Cubo, promoter of the project, explains that "we are not talking about replacing, but about regenerating, we are looking to change artificial prosthesis for something that is integrated into the body". This advance will also be applicable to the regeneration of the tissues of people with bone diseases.

In addition, it will allow to finish with clinical trials in animals. Nieves says that "using something in the laboratory that behaves exactly like the human body reduces costs, saves suffering and ensures results, because something that works in an animal does not always mean that it does so in a human and vice versa." The research is under development and will reach the clinical trial phase in two years.

This project comes to join that of other researchers who already use 3D printing in the medical and scientific sector. Rodrigo del Prado, director of BQ, explains that "this is one more example of how 3D printing can solve technical challenges of any field." Our goal is to put technology at the service of creative minds that find infinite utilities to advance their sectors and the world in general. "