3D printing companies are using holograms and light-based technologies to great effect these days. While this area is mostly dominated by SLA and DLP, there are other light-based methods in the works. Holographic systems, for example, have found a home in bioprinting and are gaining new life every day. We previously covered Prellis Biologics’ work with holographic printing technology for human organs. Now, the company has teamed up with Sweden-based CELLINK for their new Holograph-X printer.
Both companies will put together their expertise and funding in commercialising the first ultra-high resolution bioprinting system for microstructures such as vascular networks or capillaries. The Holograph adds to CELLINK’s existing extrusion based bioprinting platform, allowing prints from both technologies with anatomically precise results.
“We believe in the democratization of science. It’s not only our team who will lead discovery and therapeutics development using true-to-life 3D structures, but scientists across the globe. Putting this technology into the hands of dedicated researchers is the fastest path to bring scientific advancements to the field and solutions to real people,” said Melanie Matheu, CEO, Prellis Biologics.
The companies state in a press release that they will launch the system in early 2019.
Holographic Bioprinting Systems
Both firms will release the technology in the form of the “CELLINK Holograph-X Bioprinter – Powered by Prellis Biologics”. It will go to market at a retail price of a whopping $1.2 million. However, the price is understandable as this technology has a lot up its sleeve. It is the culmination of a high power system and an entirely new means of creating minuscule bodily structures.
At the same time, the Holograph can create tissues 10x larger than standard spheroid cultures at high resolutions. Most importantly, it can apparently work with any sort of CAD file researchers create. This allows for a level of versatility uncommon in most modern bioprinting systems, giving users the ability to adapt it to a wide range of tissues and functions.
What makes this bioprinting system unique is the resolution and ease of use it provides. The creation of a tissue printing system took inspirational cues from live-cell imaging methods designed to replicate real human tissue structures. Resolutions that match the microvascular structures of human tissues and extracellular matrix have yet to be seen with any other bioprinting technology. It also brings a new level of bioprinting to the commercial arena, enabling all sorts of new research.
Featured image courtesy of CELLINK.
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