Bioprinting for combating infectious diseases

Amanda Zimmerling; Xiongbiao Chen

doi:10.1016/j.bprint.2020.e00104

Bioprinting for combating infectious diseases

Bioprinting. 2020 Dec:20:e00104. doi: 10.1016/j.bprint.2020.e00104. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Authors

Amanda Zimmerling¹, Xiongbiao Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

Abstract

Infectious diseases have the ability to impact health on a global scale, as is being demonstrated by the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The strenuous circumstances related to this global health crisis have been highlighting the challenges faced by the biomedical field in combating infectious diseases. Notably, printing technologies have advanced rapidly over the last decades, allowing for the incorporation of living cells in the printing process (or bioprinting) to create constructs that are able to serve as in vitro tissue or virus-disease models in combating infectious diseases. This paper describes applications of bioprinting in addressing the challenges faced in combating infectious diseases, with a specific focus on in vitro modelling and on development of therapeutic agents and vaccines. Integration of these technologies may allow for a more efficient and effective response to current and future pandemics.

Keywords: Bioprinting; COVID-19; Drug delivery; In vitro models; Vaccines.

Publication types

Review