Inkjet Cell Micropatterning for Human Skin Equivalents

Abstract

With the automated and computerized manner, bioprinting can provide technological breakthroughs to the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine by rebuilding detailed microenvironments based on information of our body. Among various bioprinting methods, piezoelectric inkjet bioprinting which can eject ink drops in picolitre-level by drop-on-demand style is mainly utilized to create 2D cell micropatterns and 3D microstructures through this thesis. Fundamental printing parameters covering from drop ejection to drop impact are systemically studied for the cell positioning with high precision. Multi-type cells with gradient of cell densities could be fabricated with freeform and high-resolution features of inkjet printing cells directly. This direct cell patterning brings remarkable advances from conventional cell micropatterning technologies by simplifying the complicated fabrication process to a single-step and high cell compatibility. Furthermore, 3D microstructures could be self-organized from the innate ability of printed cells and not from conventional stacking of materials. Finally, various types of bioprinting methods are hybridized to build human skin equivalent with high physiological relevance, efficient reproducibility, and reduced-cost. This high resolution bioprinting technology will provide wide potential to the fields of biology, bioengineering, and therapeutics.