In a big breakthrough earlier this month, Avay Biosciences, a Chennai-based deep tech startup, launched their indigenous ‘state-of-the-art’ bio 3D printer that may print human tissues.
Known as ‘Mito Plus’, the printer was launched through the Bengaluru Tech Summit held between 16 and 18 November 2022. However why is that this an necessary milestone?
Earlier than answering this query, it’s crucial to know what bioprinting is. It’s a technique of tissue replication that makes use of ‘bioinks’, that are engineered to print synthetic dwelling tissues like pores and skin.
What are bioinks?
Talking to The Higher India, Manish Amin, CEO of Avay Biosciences, says, “Bioinks are gels or pastes which comprise two key elements — the cells for the kind of tissue we’re focusing on, and biomaterial that may assist the cells and help their progress. Biomaterials like gelatin and collagen are constituted of pure sources like meat, bones and cartilage utilizing chemical processing. They imitate the cell’s setting as it might have been throughout the physique, and so are used as assist buildings (scaffolds) upon which cells develop and join.”
In a latest launch issued by Avay Biosciences, they word, “Bioinks are supplies engineered to permit the particular sort of cells to develop and multiply whereas supporting the tissue’s construction.”
They’re broadly cut up into the next classes:
- Structural – These inks are used to create frameworks or helps for the construction.
- Sacrificial – These inks are aimed toward supporting buildings through the printing course of however are later eliminated or consumed by the cells to get replaced by their very own supplies.
- Purposeful – These inks are used to information a selected perform like mobile progress, growth and differentiation.
After we say Mito Plus prints human tissue, is it primarily making new human tissue? How a lot do these bioprinted tissues resemble human tissues in our physique?
Manish notes, “Printing tissue at present means utilizing bioinks — cells combined in biomaterial — to create scaffolds. These dwell scaffolds are then incubated, offering the fitting setting and time for the cells to multiply and make connections resembling tissue. Researchers are nonetheless engaged on verifying that these complicated scaffolds truly behave identically to actual tissue. Figuring out these variations would result in large steps ahead in understanding and artificially rising total organs — one thing that globally we’re nonetheless aspiring to attain.”
Evolution of the bio 3D printer
The primary prototype of Mito Plus was put in at IISc, Bangalore. What we see right now is the superior model of the bio 3D printer developed with inputs on the prototype from the analysis lab of Dr Bikramjit Basu on the college.
Avay Biosciences gives fully indigenous growth of each software program and {hardware} for end-to-end bio 3D printing options in India.
“We initially constructed the Mito Primary prototype. Making this was straightforward, and it solely took us about 4 months. Loads of school college students right now attempt making their very own home-grown bioprinters. The problem was shifting from prototype to product. Can we repair all of the software program bugs? Will the printing occur repeatedly? Can we offer higher high quality components and options?” asks Manish.
All this led to them increasing their design, manufacturing, electrical and software program groups to construct one thing that quickly was far faraway from the unique model — a real bioprinter.
“There have been many small enhancements alongside the way in which — including programs for temperature management, many trials of various UV bulbs and LEDs, and after many errors, we now have a system that is able to launch available in the market. Having mentioned that, nothing is ideal. We’ll proceed to resolve present points and develop new and progressive options that our prospects hold asking for till our printer is the default for all tissue engineering analysis,” he provides.
Avay Biosciences has developed 3D printers in-house with round 70% of producing undertaken in Chennai and Bengaluru. They’ve a devoted software program staff targeted on consistently including new options and constructing higher software program.
‘Cutting-edge’
“MITO plus is likely one of the most superior bioprinters in its worth vary. A variety of biomaterials may be printed with it. This printer may also have inbuilt UV curing choices. The printer has HEPA filters and the key characteristic is the temperature management, the place the printhead and the print mattress may be cooled as much as 4 levels Celsius in addition to heated as much as 80 levels Celsius. MITO plus can be utilized for pharmaceutical drug discovery and testing purposes. It may also be utilized in most cancers biology and cosmetology purposes,” says Manish.
How do these options facilitate the method of bioprinting? Many biomaterials are fairly temperature-sensitive and require exact environmental circumstances.
“By controlling the extrusion temperature, the viscosity of the fabric may be managed to an extent. We acquired this suggestions from each our key collaborators Dr Bikramjit Basu on bone tissue growth and Dr Prajakata Jain on the Institute of Chemical Know-how (ICT), Mumbai, in pores and skin tissue engineering. Therefore, this is a crucial characteristic we needed to develop,” explains Suhridh Sundaram, chief working officer, Avay Biosciences.
“This enables the researchers to have the ability to regulate the printing parameters and fine-tune it for exact scaffolds. Some supplies additionally treatment (or harden) when uncovered to UV mild. Since these supplies are gels, to attain extra layers we’d like such curing or else the underside layers get compressed and don’t keep structural integrity,” he provides.
Future purposes
Bioprinting is a subset of the bigger 3D printing market. Whereas most 3D printing occurs utilizing plastics and such polymers, bioprinting works with dwell cells and gel-like polymer supplies.
Bioprinters work in nearly the very same manner as different 3D printers do with one main distinction. As a substitute of delivering supplies comparable to plastic, steel or powders, bioprinters deposit layers of biomaterials which will embrace dwelling cells to construct complicated buildings like pores and skin tissue, liver tissue and many others.
“3D bioprinting is a novel reward to humanity by science and expertise. Though there are a lot of challenges which might be but to be solved. There’s nonetheless an extended solution to go earlier than we will create totally functioning and viable organs for human transplant,” says Manish.
Merely put, the provision of cost-effective bioprinters is an important step in creating synthetic organs since all future analysis will depend on this infrastructure. In spite of everything, 1000’s of lives are misplaced yearly in India alone as a result of lack of appropriate organ donors. And even when an individual is ready to discover one, transplants can value greater than Rs 10 lakh, not together with the price of anti-rejection medication.
Suhridh explains “Our strategy to the creation of fully new organs begins with the journey of making new tissue samples — a important stepping stone for a really long-term and tough journey. In collaboration with ICT Mumbai, we’re engaged on having our printers develop pores and skin — the commonest sort of layered tissue that might assist victims of extreme burns. These tissues may also be used for toxicology screens and numerous different testing mechanisms. Individuals can contact us for extra particulars on the analysis being carried out, and the way we may also help your mission.”
In the meantime, Manis provides, “There are different purposes. For pharmaceutical firms, to have the ability to take a look at medication on lab-grown tissue as an alternative of dealing with regulatory hurdles of animal trials and human medical trials would tremendously speed up {our capability} for analysis into new molecules, and establish dangers a lot earlier on, thereby saving analysis prices that don’t bear fruition.”
However how far is Avay from constructing a bio 3D printer system that may truly develop synthetic organs and do away with the necessity for organ transplants?
“Avay could be very far certainly from synthetic organs. There’s loads of analysis work that must be completed. It’s extremely multidisciplinary and would contain assist from tissue engineering researchers and materials scientists to develop one of the best biomaterial scaffolds, stem cell and regenerative drugs practitioners and surgeons on one of the best ways of implanting these organs, and many others. We repeatedly take suggestions from all these related events and are engaged on the engineering in addition to biomaterial aspect for now to provide researchers one of the best options that may be imagined,” notes Manish.
Nonetheless, the startup is already partnering with premier analysis and growth institutes throughout India together with IIT Madras, ICT-Mumbai, Nationwide Institute of Pharmaceutical Training And Analysis (NIPER), Hyderabad, and BITS Pilani (Goa Campus) as prospects and collaborators. Within the personal sector, main the way in which in India are startups like Avay Biosciences.
In spite of everything, as per numerous studies, the worldwide 3D bioprinting market is at present valued at USD 1.3 billion as of 2022 and is projected to achieve USD 3.3 billion by 2027. There’s a large demand for it in each the pharmaceutical and cosmetology industries.
(You may be taught extra about Avay Biosciences on their web site. All pictures courtesy Avay Biosciences.)
(Edited by Divya Sethu)