A 4D bioprinter for the University of Barcelona

The UB becomes a reference in the creation of tissues and organs

18-Mar-2022 - Spain

Aiming to create artificial organs and tissues for clinical application, the Production and Validation Center for Advanced Therapies of the University of Barcelona (Creatio), will purchase and launch one of the first 4D laser-assisted bioprinters in Europe. Creatio obtained a funding of 999,604 euros from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, within the call Equipamiento Científico-Técnico 2021. The University of Barcelona will become a worldwide reference in translational research in tissue engineering.

Bioprinting consists on making artificial human tissue through the combination of biomaterials and cells. This technology is framed within the tissue engineering and has brought a revolution in the biomedical sector, mainly focused on artificial tissue or organ generation with direct clinical application, and in the pharmaceutical sector focused on the creation of three-dimensional cellular models.

The director of Creatio, Josep M. Canals, describes the acquisition of this bioprinter, which will be fully operational by mid-2022 as an “important strategical step”. “Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering are providing great advances for producing tissues and organs in the laboratory, but we need one more step in the clinic so that these can be transplanted in humans. The new bioprinter in the Creatio facilities will allow us to advance in the application of regenerative medicine for many diseases that go from skin regeneration to the nervous system regeneration strategies”.

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Moreover, the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, congratulated the UB for its leading position in innovation in the field of health: “Innovation is part of the University of Barcelona’s DNA. This milestone is important for placing the UB at the front of tissue regenerative medicine, since there is only one bioprinter with such features in the world”.

With this purchase, the University of Barcelona will contribute to the definite clinical application of artificial production of tissues and organs, providing direct benefits to society.

A unique infrastructure

The niche of advanced therapies in Spain is one of the top ones in the world with a great development in cell therapy and genic therapy too. Creatio, located at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, has become a leading centre in Europe for its production of cell and genic therapies for different therapeutical applications. However, the lack of facilities to produce tissues for regenerative medicine is slowing the most ambitious developments. Therefore, the purchase of this bioprinter will allow Creatio, the UB and Spain to be in the leading positions of regenerative medicine worldwide.

This state-of-the-art 4D bioprinter includes the combination of strategies of conventional bioprinting such as extrusion with innovative methods such as laser-assisted methods to obtain a high-resolution in the positioning both of extracellular matrix and cells themselves.

Bioprinting consists on the making of human artificial tissues through the combination of biomaterials and cells. This technology which is part of the tissue engineering has brough a revolution in the biomedical sector, focused on the generation of artificial organs and tissues with direct clinical application, and in the pharmaceutical sector, focused on the creation of three-dimensional cellular models.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/1175261/a-4d-bioprinter-for-the-university-of-barcelona.html