Biological laser printing: a novel technique for creating heterogeneous 3-dimensional cell patterns.
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.
Barron
J A
JA
Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA.
Wu
P
P
Ladouceur
H D
HD
Ringeisen
B R
BR
D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D002455:Cell Division; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D016287:Computer Peripherals; D004727:Endothelium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011327:Printing / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*