3D bioprinter to print human meniscus on the space station

The knee is just not solely one of many largest and most complicated joints within the physique—it is usually simply injured. The truth is, one of the vital frequent orthopedic accidents is the tearing of the meniscus, a half-moon-shaped piece of cartilage within the knee. Every knee has two menisci that permit the joint to maneuver freely. Present therapies for a torn meniscus are lower than ultimate, involving eradicating or repairing the torn section, which may in the end result in elevated threat of arthritis or knee alternative, because the affected joint loses its cushioning.

To enhance patient care on Earth and develop more practical methods of treating torn tissues, researchers from Redwire House are turning to the microgravity atmosphere of the Worldwide House Station (ISS) Nationwide Laboratory.

Redwire’s upgraded BioFabrication Facility (or BFF) launched to the space station in November. Now that the BFF is put in, it is able to flex its printing muscle tissues with the ability’s first process: producing a full-sized, 3D printed human meniscus. Utilizing provides which might be launching on SpaceX’s upcoming twenty seventh Business Resupply Companies (CRS) mission, the meniscus tissue will likely be printed on station after which returned to Earth for evaluation. Terrestrially, printing soft tissues is difficult on account of gravity’s affect, which is why Redwire is taking its bioprinter to space.

“The BFF is a game-changing know-how that would have vital implications for the way forward for human well being and affected person care on Earth,” mentioned Wealthy Boling, a Redwire vice chairman. “Printed tissues couldn’t solely be implanted in sufferers but additionally used as fashions for drug discovery, offering new avenues to check therapeutics.”

The investigation to print a full human meniscus will build on previous research from 2019, when the BFF printed cardiac tissue and a partial meniscus. This subsequent iteration will make the most of an upgraded BFF that enables higher temperature management when printing in addition to an upgraded imaging system that lets the group higher management the prints.

In keeping with Boling, the meniscus is the proper tissue to start out with not solely as a result of many individuals have knee accidents but additionally as a result of it’s a good tissue to check the BFF. “The meniscus is nice as a result of it’s extremely avascular, that means it lacks blood vessels, which is what tends to carry again large-scale 3D printing,” he mentioned. “So proper while you print it, you are already nearer to human tissue than you’ll be when you began out attempting to print a coronary heart.”

Boling says that provides the corporate a chance to repeatedly enhance the printing system, which can assist Redwire meet its final purpose of printing whole organs in space. Whereas that milestone is probably going a few years away, within the near-term, BFF may very well be a worthwhile device for drug efficacy testing. The ability can be utilized to print and tradition organoids, which resemble human organs however are artificially made. These organoids can be utilized to check new drug compounds, permitting researchers to gather significant knowledge that may assist in illness modeling and drug growth in addition to the development of tissue engineering.

SpaceX CRS-27 is focused for launch no sooner than March 14 at 8:30 p.m. EDT. This mission will embrace greater than 15 ISS Nationwide Lab-sponsored payloads. To study extra about all ISS Nationwide Lab-sponsored analysis on this mission, please go to our launch page.