MERLN Summer Talks

Biofabrication across frontiers: Shaping light to engineer biomimetic tissues in vitro, in vivo and in space. 

The integration of light shaping techniques and photocrosslinkable biomaterials has brought transformative changes to the field of tissue engineering and biofabrication. These techniques typically deploy a “light engine”, which is a photoprojection system containing a light source synchronized with a digital micromirror array device (DMD). This optical arrangement enables control over the spatial and temporal distribution of light intensity and wavelength for selective material crosslinking. Light engines can be used in layer-wise biofabrication approaches such as digital light projection (DLP), or with layer-free approaches such as tomography or xolography, to achieve complex engineered tissues. We recently demonstrated filamented light (FLight) biofabrication as another layer-free biofabrication approach, where the light engine comprises of a speckled laser beam to introduce highly aligned microfilaments within crosslinked bioresins, which is relevant for anisotropic tissue engineering. We have, since then, translated FLight printing from a benchtop device to an in vivo printing tool (using image guides) or as a robust printing platform for use in microgravity environments. With Flight technology as a benchmark and muscle tissue as an example application, this talk will highlight the basic optomechanical structuring of light engines, and their necessary modifications to comply with the complexities of in vitro, in vivo and in-space printing. It will also discuss new approaches to tailor the photoresins for compliance with the printing constraints, while achieving high biocompatibility and bioactivity to obtain contractile biomimetic muscle tissues. The techniques and materials which will be discussed in the talk can be deployed for broad-spectrum photo-biofabrication applications, pushing the frontiers of modern tissue engineering practices.