A Novel, Well-Resolved Direct Laser Bioprinting System for Rapid Cell Encapsulation and Microwell Fabrication

Abstract

A direct laser bioprinting (DLBP) system is introduced in this work. The DLBP system applies visible-laser-induced photo-crosslinking at a wavelength of 405 nm using the photoinitiator VA-086. It is shown that such a system can fabricate vertical structures with fine features (less than 50 µm) and high cell viability (greater than 95%). Experimental characterizations and theoretical simulations are presented, and good agreement is seen between the experiments and theory. The DLBP system is applied to the fabrication of (1) cell-laden hydrogel microgrids, (2) hydrogel microwells, as well as a test of (3) cell encapsulation, and (4) cell seeding. The DLBP system is found to be a promising tool for bioprinting.

Existing bioprinting methods have difficulties in achieving high cell viability and fine resolution simultaneously. This work introduces a new type of bioprinting method named "direct laser bioprinting" (DLBP). The DLBP utilizes the focused laser beamspot to selectively photo-crosslink a hydrogel prepolymer solution. It is proven to perform the rapid fabrication of cell-laden hydrogels with fine resolution and high cell viability.

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