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

EnvisionTEC 3D-Bioplotters (Figure 5D) can be used in
sterile biosafety cabinets and feature automated nozzle
cleaning process, external temperature sensor ports and
[82]
layer by layer photographic log .
GeSiM is a spin-off from a publicly funded German
research laboratory, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-
Rossendorf (HZDR). BioScaffolder 3.1 (Figure 5E)
features a piezoelectric micro-pipetting system, on
the fourth z-axis allowing non-contact dispensing
of small drops in the pico- and nanoliter scale [83] .
Other add-on alternatives on BioScaffolder include
melt electrospinning and a camera to measure strut
dimensions.
nScrypt has a patented Micro Dispense Direct Write
technology (MDDW) [84] . nScrypt highlights 3Dn 300
TE Series (Figure 6D) uses a positive pressure pump,
TM
SmartPump to achieve resolutions as small as 15
microns. Along with nTtip™ comes in a wide range of
standard sizes from 12.5 microns (inner diameter) 125
microns, the company has demonstrated the possibility
[85]
to print living cells with near 100% cell viability .
Ourobotics’ 8 materials with options to incorporate
additional features such as UV, laser and drill for
construction of more intricate and challenging
[86]
architectures .
TM
Pensées designed their Vitarix Bioprinter (Figure
4G) to work on a patented articulation-based approach
instead of Cartesian coordinates [87] . Pensées has also
been developing alginate-based bioinks.
Poietis utilises a technology portfolio from INSERM
and University of Bordeaux. The company specializes
in 4D laser-assisted bioprinting technology and has
collaborations with L'Oréal for developing bioprinting
[89]
[88]
hair follicle and BASF for bioprinted skin models .
Equipped with an eight-axis motion, their NGB 17.03
(Figure 6C) bioprinting platform is capable of 3D
printing with a resolution of a single cell [90] . In early
2018, Poietis has commercially launched the first
®
bioprinted human full skin model Poieskin fabricated
[91]
using their NGB bioprinter .
REGEMAT 3D successfully bioprint osteochondral
tissue using their REGEMAT 3D V1 (Figure 4E)
bioprinting system which incorporates three printing
technologies: Individually Pore Filling (IPF), Injection
[92]
Filling (IF) and Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) .
Figure 7. A brief history of bioprinting: Seminal events in IPF enhances the viability and survival of the cells when
bioprinting so far working with high temperature thermoplastics whereas
IF fills the different printed volumes when working with
Inc. also provides a print service, which allows small injury sites. It offers users to fully configure their
researchers to order their own scaffold-free 3D tissue bioprinters.
[81]
constructs . regenHU offers two different models of commercial
EnvisionTEC has been working at the frontier bioprinters: BioFactory™ (Figure 6F) and 3DDiscovery
of additive manufacturing with sales of over 5000 (Figure 5A) [93] . Key highlights of the systems include
3D printers across 66 countries in the last 15 years. a high degree of customizability and a dispensing

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