3D bioprinting from Swansea wraps up our Christmas spin-outs to watch list.
3Dynamic Systems
Institution: Swansea University
Sector: 3D Bioprinters
With 3D printing technology sector set to explode over the coming couple of years as the technology becomes more accessible to the consumer market, the next generation of 3D printers are due to print more than just plastic prototypes and designs.
One spin-out exploring this area is 3Dynamic Systems, a spin-out of Swansea University, which is releasing two 3D bioprinters dubbed Alpha and Omega.
The company is hoping to use the bioprinters to create transplantable bone and complex tissue constructs. The process is based on research by Daniel Thomas, senior research officer at the university’s Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating. The printing is based on stem cellular materials, which can be turned into specific tissue.
The Alpha bioprinter has been designed to deal with bones, while the Omega has been designed to print soft tissues. Omega is currently able to produce tissues of a high enough quality for pharmaceutical trials.
Should the bioprinters prove successful, they could be a major breakthrough in tissue engineering technology, and could be used to treat severely injured patients by simply printing out replacement parts.
