Beyond flat biology: High-precision 3D printing of biocompatible microstructures

01 Feb 2020

New Nanoscribe printing material is designed to print filigree and low-fluorescent 3D microarchitectures for tissue engineering

Nanoscribe presents the new IP-Visio printing material for life science applications. This material is non-cytotoxic, low-fluorescent and designed for the 3D Microfabrication of biocompatible microstructures. With IP-Visio, Nanoscribe’s 3D printers open up the way to produce intricate, filigree microenvironments needed in 3D cell culture and tissue engineering. The product is launched at the SPIE BiOS and Photonics West conference in San Francisco, the world-leading event in photonics and optics.

2D cell culture systems have been standard for the past century, enabling findings in many applications, ranging from stem cell research, drug screening, and regenerative medicine. However, cells interact with neighboring cells, the extracellular matrix, and surrounding molecules in 3D. Cells in vivo experience an extremely complex three-dimensional environment at the organ, tissue and cellular level down and below the micrometer scale. The advances of Nanoscribe’s 3D Microfabrication have demonstrated how this technology enables the fabrication of intricate 3D microstructures such as 3D cell scaffolds. Now the company takes a further step forward and presents IP-Visio, the new printing material designed for the fabrication of biocompatible 3D microstructures.

Biocompatibility and low autofluorescence

The printing material is non-cytotoxic according to ISO 10993-5. This makes IP-Visio suitable for cell-friendly 3D scaffolds. With this material, high-precision microstructures can be fabricated to mimic realistic and high-precision microenvironments. An exemplary application is multi-cell scaffolds that serve as supporting material to seed and study cells in 3D.

Moreover, IP-Visio shows a very low autofluorescence. This property allows a clear view through the printed scaffolds. Scientists can analyze cellular components and processes by means of fluorescence microscopy without interference of the printed structures.

Versatile 3D Microfabrication enhanced for life sciences

Nanoscribe’s 3D printing technology give rise to numerous ways to produce 3D microenvironments that resemble the natural surrounding conditions of cells known in the human body. The technology enables the direct fabrication of intricate 3D microstructures with outstanding shape accuracy, resulting in pioneering work in 3D cell scaffolds. Research results have been published, for example, on retinal tissue engineering, cancer research, and the first 3D-printed blood-brain barrier model for drug screening.

At SPIE BiOS (booth 8256) and Photonics West (hall E, Booth 3254) Nanoscribe will present the printing material with 3D-printed microstructures.

This press release as well as images for download are available on our website: www.nanoscribe.com