The first private laboratory for biotechnological research, 3D Bioprinting Solutions (in the Biomedicine Technologies Cluster at the Skolkovo Foundation) has made a breakthrough that could prove important for regenerative medicine in Russia, once again confirming the importance of this, one of the most promising areas of medicine in the 21st century.
In an official announcement, 3D Bioprinting Solutions emphasized that "the use of the technology of 3D bioprinting of organs made using the patient's autologic (own) stem cells may be a solution for the problem of immune compatibility. As time passes, this technology will make it possible to get prototypes of organs and effective methods of tissue replacement, by which patients can be restored to full health." Bioprinting is a multi-discipline field, and the laboratory's team of scientists is working in several areas, including: reprogramming cells and working with cell cultures, obtaining fully-functional micro-tissues, and also working to create a Russian 3D bioprinter.
The specifics of the technology
Alexander Ostrovsky, the CEO of the 3D Bioprinting Solutions biotechnological research laboratory, and chairman of the Board of Directors of the INVITRO group, a key investor in the Laboratory, emphasized that "no-one knows what role each of the technologies currently under development for creating and restoring tissue and organs is going to play in the future. We like the matrix-free technology, because it is natural, beautiful and, in our opinion, can be implemented."
Alexander Ostrovsky
One of the things that makes 3D bioprinting different from other technologies is the use of a 3D bioprinter, and complex "knitting" software which positions the cells in accordance with a spatial model that is provided. The technology is based on work carried out on a patient's naturally produced cells. The role of the carcass is played by a soft gel. As Ostrovsky explained, the fact that no matrix is involved means that the technology is not restricted when there is a shortfall in organ donation: "in other words, we don't need a "live" model in order to make a copy of it, it's sufficient to have a certain amount of biomaterial", the company's director said.
Potential for creating an artificial liver
The unique importance of the studies leaves no-one at the Skolkovo Foundation in any doubt. "We are going to be able to produce "spare parts" that someone has lost due to disease or injury. This is without question technology that belongs in the future, but not necessarily in the distant future. I think it's quite possible that in our lifetimes, whilst we may not see shops selling printers that print human organs, we may at least witness successful operations involving transplants of organs created using that method," declared Helena Liefshitz, the Director of medical programs at the Foundation's Biomedical Cluster, at an event marking the opening of the lab.
Naturally, many people are wondering when this technology will be introduced: when will 3D bioprinters be able to start printing organs. It's more than likely that livers will be among the first key organs to be created using a 3D biological "printing press". The task of making livers is one that "3D Bioprinting Solutions" is setting itself, as one of the main long-term aims of the laboratory, and, according to forecasts by the National Intelligence Council, that will be possible by 2030.
Nephron on a chip: a radical new tool for pre-clinical studies
Among the current areas of activity which the company is actively involved in at the moment is the creation of a fundamentally new tool for pre-clinical studies: the use of nephron on a chip. Nephron is a cell that is a key construction material for the liver. The company uses an original microfluid device and the technology of induced human pluripotent stem cells, reconstructing the main functions of the liver so that it can be used to assess the possible nephron toxicity of new medicines. As staff at "3D Bioprinting Solutions" explained, two of the liver's functions will be recreated on the chip: filtration and reabsorption. The microfluid device "nephron on a chip" will prove the functionality of reprogrammed stem cells (made of fat tissue) in the liver cells.
The company is basing its research on the fact that the existing models, or those under development, for testing on 2D cell models and animals, are highly inaccurate. "Around 7% of new medical preparations produced around the world do not reach the state of clinical testing due to nephron toxicity revealed during pre-clinical tests. The remaining 93% of preparations lead to complications during phase I of the clinical trials among 30-50% of patients, in the form of severe liver failure due to nephron toxicity," the company's staff explained.
Creating an innovative Russian bioprinter
The laboratory faces the task of creating a universal tissue structures (groups of cells which have a particular shape). The structures, like the reprogrammed "nephrons", are important, valuable biomedical material. In essence, "nephrons" are micro-organs which can also be used in the testing and licensing of pharmaceuticals. And yet another important area on which the laboratory will be focusing is the construction of a Russian bioprinter. It will be one of the first in the world, though not the first, to be adapted using innovative Russian technologies of "bodiless structures". The development of the bodiless method of 3D bioprinting of tissue structures will undoubtedly generate the knowledge required to create a new bioprinting technology, which must be on the one hand more efficient, and, equally, able to compete with the existing technologies, so that a wider range of functionality can be provided.
Vladimir Mironov
Super-professors at 3D Bioprinting Solutions
Incidentally, Vladimir Mironov, the laboratory's director of science, has already helped to create three bioprinters in other countries. He and his colleagues were introduced at the opening ceremony - it is they, alongside the other biomedics, who will be charged with making the dream of bioprinting a reality. Under the guidance of Alexander Ostrovsky, the chairman of the Board of Directors at INVITRO, and the CEO of "3D Bioprinting Solutions", there will be a team of specialists who are already known to the Skolkovo community as some of the most prominent speakers at conferences on regenerative medicine and some of the top experts and academics. The head of the research laboratory is the doctor of biological science and biologist, Sergei Novoselov. The scientific director is Vladimir Mironov, M.D., Ph.D. Up until 2011, Sergei Novoselov was in charge of the Technological Group at the clinical studies unit at INVITRO, which is the main investor in the laboratory's project. He trained as a doctor, graduated from the Russian State Medical University and took his doctorate at the Institute of Cell Biophysics, at the Russian Academy of Science. He has also carried out professorial and research work at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. His dissertation was on the subject of "Biochemistry and molecular biology".
Sergei Novoselov
Vladimir Mironov is a tissue engineer, renowned pioneer and inventor of technologies used to print organs and biofabrication. Mironov has an outstanding academic record, including periods of study at the Ivanovsky Medical State University, the Pirogov RNIMU, the NII for human morphology, RAMN, the RWTH University in Aachen, and the M. Plank Institute of Psychiatry in the community; М. the University of South California, Virginia Commonwealth University. He has founded two start-ups in the field of biomedicine, and created an organ printing technology that was licensed by the American company Organovo, the world leader in the field of the commercialization of bioprinting technologies.
It is hard to imagine a speaker with deeper understanding of 3D bioprinting technologies than Vladimir Mironov, and those attending the event found his lecture extremely interesting. The opening of Russia's first private laboratory for 3D bioprinting of tissues.
The company's staff feel that they have everything they need to achieve success: friendly and well-qualified staff, knowledge and experience, and the human resources and intellectual resources of the company INVITRO, which is sponsoring the development of 3D bioprinting technology; and an international team of scientists, including: 1 doctor of biological science, 1 scientist with a graduate degree in biological science, 1 with a graduate degree in medical science, 1 Ph.D. doctor, and the infrastructure and support of Skolkovo, which together create the right environment in which to develop innovative projects which are of great use to Russia.