3D extrusion bioprinting of microbial inks for biomedical applications

Nicolas Burns; Arjun Rajesh; Avinash Manjula-Basavanna; Anna Duraj-Thatte

doi:10.1016/j.addr.2024.115505

3D extrusion bioprinting of microbial inks for biomedical applications

Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2024 Dec 19:217:115505. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115505. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Nicolas Burns¹, Arjun Rajesh², Avinash Manjula-Basavanna³, Anna Duraj-Thatte⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1230 Washington Street, Blacksburg 24061, USA.
² Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, 334 Huntington Avenue, Boston 02115, USA.
³ Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1230 Washington Street, Blacksburg 24061, USA; Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, 334 Huntington Avenue, Boston 02115, USA; Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, 805 Columbus Avenue, Boston 02120, USA. Electronic address: mbavinash@northeastern.edu.
⁴ Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1230 Washington Street, Blacksburg 24061, USA; Macromolecular Innovation Institute, Virginia Tech, 240 W Campus Dr, Blacksburg 24060, USA. Electronic address: aduraj@vt.edu.

PMID: 39701387
DOI: 10.1016/j.addr.2024.115505

Abstract

In recent years, the field of 3D bioprinting has witnessed the intriguing development of a new type of bioink known as microbial inks. Bioinks, typically associated with mammalian cells, have been reimagined to involve microbes, enabling many new applications beyond tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This review presents the latest advancements in microbial inks, including their definition, types, composition, salient characteristics, and biomedical applications. Herein, microbes are genetically engineered to produce 1) extrudable bioink and 2) life-like functionalities such as self-regeneration, self-healing, self-regulation, biosynthesis, biosensing, biosignaling, biosequestration, etc. We also discuss some of the promising applications of 3D extrusion printed microbial inks, such as 1) drugs and probiotics delivery, 2) metabolite production, 3) tissue engineering, 4) bioremediation, 5) biosensors and bioelectronics, 6) biominerals and biocomposites, and 7) infectious disease modeling. Finally, we describe some of the current challenges of microbial inks that needs to be addressed in the coming years, to make a greater impact in health science and technology and many other fields.

Keywords: 3D Printing; Additive Manufacturing; Bioinks; Bioprinting; Engineered Living Materials; Extrusion; Microbial Inks.

Publication types

Review