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The arrival of commercial bioprinters – Towards 3D bioprinting revolution!

Figure 5. Medium-sized Bioprinters: (a) 3DDiscovery™ (courtesy of RegenHU, Fribourg, Switzerland); (B) NovoGen MMX
Bioprinter™ (courtesy of Organovo, San Diego, United States); (c) FABION (courtesy of 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Russia); (D)
3D-Bioplotter (courtesy of Envision TEC, Gladbeck, Germany); (e) BioScaffolder (courtesy of GeSim, Radeberg, Germany); (F)
®
RX1™ BIOPRINTER (courtesy of Aspect Biosystems, Vancouver, Canada); (G) BIO X (courtesy of CELLINK, Sweden); (H) INVIVO
(courtesy of Rokit, Seoul, Korea); (i) Allevi 6 (courtesy of Allevi, Philadelphia, US).
systems: BioAssemblyBot (3D bioprinter) (Figure 6A) a sophisticated array of sensors and computer vision
and BioBot™ Basic (Figure 4J). The six-axis robotic which automatically tunes the printing parameters
arm of BioAssemblyBot is well complemented by the for materials [72] . Allevi also offers a wide-range of
[73]
option to load up to ten independent delivery systems commercial bioinks .
during a single print run, thus facilitating the fabrication Aspect Biosystems have been using their proprietary
of more versatile biological 3D scaffolds. The key Lab-on-a-Printer™ microfluidic technology in the latest
highlight lies in the form of its software interface: Tissue RX1™ bioprinting platform (Figure 5F) [74] . Equipped
Structure Information Modeling (TSIM). Both systems with a coaxial flow-focusing technology, which
also offer features such as rotational stage movement ensures direct extrusion of biological fibres with varied
and automated material change. diameters. The system was used to demonstrate the
Allevi (previously called BioBots) has a range fabrication of an artificial airway, termed 3DBioRingTM.
of printers (Figure 4A and Figure 5I) featuring The airway consists of contractile smooth muscle
pneumatically-controlled dual-extrusion print heads tissue comprising of primary human airway smooth
and visible light technology [71] . Allevi’s systems also muscle cells. The airway tissue has shown appropriate
employ an open concept for easy switching between and reproducible contractions to physiological stimuli
bioinks and a temperature-controlled extruder head (histamine) and dilations in response to pharmacological
[75]
(25°C to 120°C). Allevi 6 is WiFi enabled and includes stimuli (B2-agonist) .

8 International Journal of Bioprinting (2018)–Volume 4, Issue 2