The Research Institute of Technical Physics and Automation (NIITFA, part of Rosatom’s scientific division), in collaboration with the Kurchatov Institute, is exploring the possibility of creating activated combination-action implants. Their goal is to minimize the risk of tumor recurrence, as stated by Vladislav Parfenov, Director of the Institute’s Research and Production Center for Medical Devices and Cellular Products, at the Future Technologies Forum held in Moscow.
“To form living tissue, a new class of devices is needed — biofabricators. They do not simply print, but rather shape cellular material in three-dimensional space. Together with the FMBA, we are creating low-immunogenic, universal cells. This approach will make it possible in the near future to establish a bank of cells and ready-made tissue equivalents accessible to everyone,” the state corporation’s press release quotes Parfenov as saying.
The scientist noted that genome editing technologies already make it possible to “program” cells, giving them the desired properties. “The scale of this discovery is comparable to humanity’s mastery of the atom. In the near future, we will be creating individual ‘parts’ for the human body: parts of hormone-producing glands or fragments of cardiac tissue,” he said.
Biofabrication is usually defined as the production of complex biological products from raw materials such as living cells, matrices, biomaterials, and molecules. This rapidly evolving technology has been stimulated by the development of 3D fabrication technologies. This field builds upon currently available wound healing strategies and methodologies.
Attempts at combining the most favorable attributes of these technologies may be further bolstered by the addition of progenitor and stem cell derivatives with the hope of improving revascularization and repopulation in an effort to optimize resultant form and function. A bioprinting device may allow for in situ biofabrication of skin substitutes directly in the patient. Complex constructs can be grown with layered living cell types to duplicate or at least mimic autologous tissue in an effort to regenerate healthy vascularized tissues, organs, and skin. Preliminary work has already been done with bottom-up and top-down approaches to produce an organized 3D multilayer skin substitute containing both keratinocytes as well as fibroblasts.