3D Printing in Stem Cell Research

3D PRINTING IN STEM CELL RESEARCH
Welcome back readers! So far, you have been introduced to the world of 3D printing,
Bioprinting, the technology and methodologies, and the vast potential that all of it holds! But
in this article, we will look into a more specific study of bioprinting, which is that of Stem
Cells. This is a part of the medical world that scientists have been actively researching since
1981, primarily thought to one day be the cure to terminal diseases and injured organs.
Wondering how stem cells can be used to save lives? You’ll learn about what stem cells and
pluripotent cells are, how they can be effectively bioprinted or recreated in a lab, and how
they will affect the future of the medical industry!
What are stem cells?

To start off, what are stem cells? Put simply, stem cells are those cells that originate in the
human body that are capable of generating not only more of themselves, but cells from other
organs too. Stem cells have the capability to fight diseases and regenerate, making them the
key source of regenerative medicine. Some types of stem cells, like embryonic stem cells,
are even capable of producing specialised stem cells specific to organs like the heart, liver,
and kidneys. If stem cells can be implanted in a person suffering from heart failure, it can
automatically regenerate the dying cells and fight off foreign invasions. However, while it
may sound plausible in theory, researchers face a plethora of obstacles in regenerative
medicine research, heavily slowing down the progress. Despite the same, in the future we
can expect to see cures to many diseases that heavily dwindle the quality of life, such as
type 1 diabetes, alzeihmers, and Parkinson’s disease. Through stem cell research,
professors and scientists can observe adult stem cells of the bone marrow, heart etc and
determine how these cells grow, how diseases occur in our bodies and how they can be
fought off. This research has proven most useful in finding the root cause of life threatening
diseases, and to some extent, how they could be cured. Another use of stem cells is to
actively replace animal lab testing. Stem cells can be altered or reprogrammed into specific
types of cells to test new pharmaceuticals or medical drugs. For instance, a drug for the
nervous system can be proven effective or unsafe on lab - made nerve cells.
These stem cells go through a process called 3D Cell Culture Creation, wherein the stem
cells are grown in certain conditions to create organoids, or mini organs in a petri dish.
These organoids are a mere 5 millimetres in width but serve as promising research bases for
stem cell studies. Organoids for any type of organ can be created. Needless to say, A lot can
be done with stem cells and organoids as they actively contribute to medical progression
every second.
Where Do Stem Cells Come from?

Despite the common stereotype, stem cells don't just come from the bone marrow, but in
variance and from multiple places in the human body. The most researched form of stem
cells are embryonic stem cells, which are young stem cells that are extracted from a
human embryo. These stem cells can create cells of any other type, be it the heart, liver or
kidneys. These cells can be extracted in a lab post the in vitro process, wherein the egg
fertilises, but is not implanted into the woman. This is of course a consensual process and
the donor authorises the extraction. Needless to say, embryonic stem cells, or pluripotent
stem cells (cells with the capability to regrow and regenerate), are the best possible means
we possess to create widely available regenerative medicine. The problem that arises,
however, is the ethical dilemma of using human living embryos for research purposes as
these are the early stages of childbirth. This leads to limited and restricted funding, and
further hinders our progress.
Another form of stem cells are adult stem cells, stem cells found in the fat containing areas
of the body and bone marrow. As they are, these cells cannot divide into cells of other types,
however, recent studies have shown that bioprinting can be used to convert them into
pluripotent cells, more on that will be covered later in this article. While adult stem cells are
promising agents of recovery, they are not nearly as versatile or durable as embryonic stem
cells. Adult stem cells might also be affected by abnormalities due to environmental hazard.
The plus side is that there are no questions of ethics or morals involved in the research and
extraction of adult stem cells.
In fact, stem cells of the intestine can even regenerate the whole intestine within a matter of
weeks. Upon extraction of these adult stem cells and regrowth in an environment suited to
intestinal growth, it was found that they can regenerate only the intestine and cannot form
other cells.
Perinatal stem cells are a highly understudied type of stem cells found in the umbilical cord
blood and amniotic fluid. These stem cells, similar to their embryonic counterparts, can
divide into specialised stem cells. Acquiring these cells is a bothersome undertaking and as
such they are not widely available. Perinatal stem cells have proven most useful in curing
problems at birth. According to a study by mayoclinic.org, ‘Amniotic fluid fills the sac that
surrounds and protects a developing foetus in the uterus. Researchers have
identified stem cells in samples of amniotic fluid drawn from pregnant women to test
for abnormalities — a procedure called amniocentesis.’
Having seen the different types of stem cells, let us move on to induced cells or
Bioprinted stem cells:
Bioprinting Of Stem Cells:

Bioprinting, as we have seen before, is the printing of three dimensional human cells and
tissues using bioinks that are made from human cells or organoids. Scientists have
implemented bioprinting technology into stem cell research, as a way to maximise stem cell
production for regenerative medicine theory. Adult stem cell, earlier believed to only produce
similar cells, can now be used to create specialised cells too. This major discovery comes in
the form of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSC). An adult cell or fibroblast is derived
from a skin biopsy. Using a bioprinter, these are fed into the nozzle and reprogrammed in
specific conditions to reform them into Pluripotent Stem Cells. Different conditions are
needed and environments are to be created for these cells to reform. Heart and brain blood
cells are actively printed and tested by implanting them into the heart to regenerate dying
cells. This is a potential alternative to transplants which are rarely available to the average
patient and have donor waiting lists. These Induced pluripotent cells can also be grown into
stomach cells, proving to regenerate the entire stomach lining in rats. Human testing is yet to
be done however.
According to a study by CleveLabs, an organoid of the heart, complete with blood vessels,
small heart chambers and a vascular system can be printed. In fact, after a few days, the
organoid would even start to beat. This shows that organoids bear a much closer semblance
to our organs, making them more viable for research than animals. Organoids can be
created for the heart, liver, kidney and even the brain. Brain organoids are being used at the
moment to study the effect of the Sars - Covid virus on the brain. This explains some of the
neurological effects of covid, such as loss of smell and brain fog.\
The scope and potential that Induced Pluripotent Stem cells hold are revolutionary to stem
cell research. These even strip away the issues of human ethics and morals that embryonic
stem cells pose. Of course, it has its own set of drawbacks as well. The patient's body
rejects the implanted stem cells. To counter this, his/her immune system is temporarily
numbed, leaving them susceptible to diseases and even cancers.
A process termed as Therapeutic cloning is used as a turnaround to these complications. In
therapeutic cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, two nuclei, one from the unfertilized egg
and the other from a donor are taken. The latter nucleus is then implanted into the egg to
create embryonic stem cells specific to the donor. This way, these implanted cells will not be
rejected by the body, and can cure deformities, recover cells lost to leukaemia and radiation
treatment, and even heart diseases. While human testing is yet to be done, Therapeutic
cloning will be key to saving lives on a mass scale and facing diseases that, up until now,
were believed to be incurable.
Of course, these stem cell discoveries, combined with the affordable and advanced
technology of bioprinting and bioink production will pave the way to a disease ridden future,
Perfecting the human body is a dream not too far off, and maybe even a cure to the
pandemics like Covid-19 are along the way! Not too far off into the future. Thank you for
reading, we hope that you learned something about the world of stem cells, and don't forget
to subscribe to our newsletter for more weekly articles!

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3D PRINTING IN STEM CELL RESEARCH

What are stem cells?

Where Do Stem Cells Come from?

Bioprinting Of Stem Cells:

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