Biological laser printing: a novel technique for creating heterogeneous 3-dimensional cell patterns

Biomed Microdevices. 2004 Jun;6(2):139-47. doi: 10.1023/b:bmmd.0000031751.67267.9f.

Abstract

We have developed a laser-based printing technique, called biological laser printing (BioLP). BioLP is a non-contact, orifice-free technique that rapidly deposits fL to nL scale volumes of biological material with spatial accuracy better than 5 microm. The printer's orifice-free nature allows for transfer of a wide range of biological material onto a variety of substrates. Control of transfer is performed via a computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system which allows for deposition rates up to 100 pixels of biological material per second using the current laser systems. In this article, we present a description of the apparatus, a model of the transfer process, and a comparison to other biological printing techniques. Further, examples of current system capabilities, such as adjacent deposition of multiple cell types, large-scale cell arrays, and preliminary experiments on creating multi-layer cell constructs are presented. These cell printing experiments not only demonstrate near 100% viability, they also are the first steps toward using BioLP to create heterogeneous 3-dimensional constructs for use in tissue engineering applications.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Adhesion
  • Cell Culture Techniques / instrumentation
  • Cell Culture Techniques / methods*
  • Cell Division
  • Coculture Techniques / instrumentation
  • Coculture Techniques / methods
  • Computer Peripherals
  • Endothelium / growth & development
  • Endothelium / pathology
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Micromanipulation / instrumentation*
  • Micromanipulation / methods
  • Osteosarcoma / pathology*
  • Osteosarcoma / physiopathology*
  • Printing / instrumentation
  • Printing / methods*
  • Tissue Engineering / instrumentation
  • Tissue Engineering / methods*