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REVIEW ARTICLE

Digital biomanufacturing supporting vascularization in

3D bioprinting

2
1*
William Whitford and James B. Hoying
1 BioProcess, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, 925 West 1800 South, Logan, UT 84321, USA
2 Advanced Solutions Life Sciences, 1901 Nelson Miller Parkway, Louisville, KY 40223, USA

Abstract: Synergies in bioprinting are appearing from individual researchers focusing on divergent aspects of the tech-
nology. Many are now evolving from simple mono-dimensional operations to model-controlled multi-material, interpe-
netrating networks using multi-modal deposition techniques. Bioinks are being designed to address numerous critical
process parameters. Both the cellular constructs and architectural design for the necessary vascular component in digi-
tally biomanufactured tissue constructs are being addressed. Advances are occurring from the topology of the circuits to
the source of the of the biological microvessel components. Instruments monitoring and control of these activates
are becoming interconnected. More and higher quality data are being collected and analysis is becoming richer. Infor-
mation management and model generation is now describing a “process network.” This is promising; more efficient use
of both locally and imported raw data supporting accelerated strategic as well as tactical decision making. This allows
real time optimization of the immediate bioprinting bioprocess based on such high value criteria as instantaneous
progress assessment and comparison to previous activities. Finally, operations up- and down-stream of the deposition
are being included in a supervisory enterprise control.
Keywords: digital, biomanufacturing, bioprinting, vasculogenesis, microvasculatures, bioinks

*Correspondence to: William Whitford, BioProcess, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, 925 West 1800 South, Logan, UT 84321, USA;
Email: bill.whitford@ge.com

Received: November 15, 2016; Accepted: November 30, 2016; Published Online: January 25, 2017
Citation: Whitford W and Hoying J B, 2017, Digital biomanufacturing supporting vascularization in 3D bioprinting. International
Journal of Bioprinting, vol.3(1): 18–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/IJB.2017.01.002.

1. Introduction tions and process control. Digital manufacturing is a
resident and on-line source for continuous optimizat-
1.1 Digital Manufacturing ion of process performance, based on both information
D available from current operations as well as from pre-
igital manufacturing promises to increase
vious batches (or time windows). For example, GE’s
productivity and robustness in existing proc-
application of the Predix™ cloud-based platform
esses and facilities, as well as enable the effi-
cient development of difficult, previously unmanage- enables powerful handling of rich-data to better support
able products or processes [1,2] . It relies upon the com- advanced manufacturing platforms (www.ge.com/
prehensive and real-time controlled interfacing of hu- digital/predix).
man and machine sourced information through a cen- 2. Digital Biomanufacturing
tralized system. More than SCADA (supervisory con-
trol and data acquisition), it is an embedded intercon- Digital biomanufacturing is similarly seen as promot-
nection of real-time access to divergent sources of ing improvements in the manufacturing of biologicals
information, and a provider of deep analysis, predic- through such initiatives as computer aided design,

Digital biomanufacturing supporting vascularization in 3D bioprinting © 2017 William Whitford and James B. Hoying. This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/lic-
enses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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