Practical laboratory methods for 3D bioprinting

Abstract Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting, also called cell printing or organ printing, is a layer-by-layer manufacturing approach in which live cells that are mixed together with biomaterials are directly deposited for fabricating complex 3D functional tissues or organs. It has diverse applications ranging from tissue engineering to regenerative medicine. Due to its individuation and controllable properties, 3D bioprinting attracts a great interest for laboratory research. In this chapter, we try to give a practical introduction on 3D bioprinting with a special emphasis on how to use them in the laboratory. A brief overview of different 3D bioprinting methods and bioprinters is given and the advantage and disadvantages of them are discussed to help us choose a suitable method for the corresponding applications. How to assemble a typical extrusion-based bioprinter in laboratories and the relevant bioprinting process is described. Bioprinting is a multidisciplinary integration technology and with the development of the technique, in the near future, multiscale, multimaterial and multicellular structures will be printed, cell damage mechanism during the printing process could be explained in depth, organ perfusion and biological detection will be integrated into the printing process, and organ-on-a-chip-based bioprinting will be widely used.