Abstract

Additive manufacturing for regenerative medicine promises the potential to biofabricate physiologically relevant functional tissues on demand. However, a major hurdle for biofabrication is the difficulty of assembling soft materials such as hydrogels and cells in complex three-dimensional geometries. Many of these materials are critical in native tissue for providing structural, mechanical, and biochemical cues to surrounding cells. Poor control of material-specific rheology, gelation kinetics, and mechanical properties of these soft materials has thus limited the success of leveraging additive manufacturing technologies for regenerative medicine. In this talk, Dr. Lee will introduce FluidForm’s FRESH bioprinting technology that was developed at Carnegie Mellon University, and how this technology enables high fidelity, high resolution printing of soft biomaterials in complex geometries. Dr. Lee will describe how FRESH has been leveraged to bioprint functional tissues that have significant implications for developing clinically-relevant regenerative therapies in various tissue types. Finally, Dr. Lee will discuss the future of additive manufacturing in biomedical research and how interdisciplinary research will be critical to the advancement of biofabrication.


Biography

Andrew Lee is currently the Head of Bioprinting and Co-Founder at FluidForm, a 3D bioprinting company looking to change the way we think about tissue engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University in the Regenerative Biomaterials Group led by Dr. Adam Feinberg. His Ph.D. thesis work was focused on muscle tissue engineering, leveraging bioprinting to fabricate skeletal and cardiac tissue models with complex tissues architecture as well as physiologically relevant contractile functions. Part of his thesis work on 3D bioprinting cardiac tissues and components of the human heart was recently published in the journal Science. More broadly, Andrew is interested in the intersection between biomaterials, cellular biomechanics, computational design, and tissue development for the creation of functional cellular and tissue systems with composition and architectures that resemble those of native tissues. Beyond research interests, Andrew wants to see the growth of bioprinting as an easily accessible and ubiquitous technology that has scientific impact for both basic and translation research.

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