Additive Manufacturing Mini 3D Printer Inside the Body: Research Group Develops New Method

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3D printers that can build biological tissue directly inside the body —this is the vision of Dr. Andrea Toulouse from the Institute of Technical Optics at the University of Stuttgart (Germany). The scientist conducts research in the field of micro-optics and fiber-based 3D printing.

3D printing methods using light are already quite common today, for example, to produce cartilage, muscle, or lung tissue in the laboratory. However, a complicated implantation must always follow as a second step, since typical printers are far too large for on-site use. A more practical solution would be a thin, endoscopic 3D printer that can be inserted into the body and seamlessly prints tissue exactly where it is meant to function later.

In our group, we want to develop a 3D-printed micro-optic that is as small as a grain of salt and sits on the tip of a glass fiber.

Andrea Toulouse

The new research group named "3D Endoscopic Microfabrication" (3DEndoFab) aims to close this gap. The key components include miniaturization, the use of light-based methods with high resolution, and the replacement of previously used non-biodegradable photoresists with bio-inks. "In our group, we aim to develop a 3D-printed micro-optic that is as small as a grain of salt and sits at the tip of a glass fiber. There, it will shape light in such a way that even complex tissue structures can be printed in 3D, with micrometer resolution and thus at the scale of body cells," explains Andrea Toulouse.

The scientist has received funding of 1.9 million US dollars from the Carl Zeiss Foundation as part of the CZS Nexus program to establish a new junior research group. With this, she aims to first develop the necessary technology. "Having my own independent junior research group gives me the opportunity to advance endoscopic 3D printing with my own responsibility and great freedom," says Andrea Toulouse with enthusiasm. "With two PhD students from engineering sciences and one from biotechnology, the group will also have an interdisciplinary approach. This is important because developing a practically usable bio-3D printer is a research challenge that can only be solved through cross-disciplinary collaboration."

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A close interdisciplinary exchange with Prof. Michael Heymann from the Institute for Biomaterials and Biomolecular Systems is also intended to address fundamental biological questions: Could small scaffolds precisely guide the body's own cells on how they should grow? And could such a process of regeneration be initiated, which the body could then complete independently?

Endoscopic 3D Printing With Ultrashort Femtosecond Pulses

That 3D printing through an optical fiber is fundamentally possible was already demonstrated in the predecessor project "EndoPrint3D," in which Andrea Toulouse, as spokesperson, together with Prof. Alois Herkommer (Institute for Technical Optics), Prof. Michael Heymann, and Prof. Harald Giessen (4th Physics Institute), also supported by the Carl Zeiss Foundation, was able to test endoscopic 3D printing with ultrashort femtosecond pulses. Building on this, the central research questions for the new group 3DEndoFab are now:

• Which light-based 3D printing methods are best suited for endoscopic use in the biomedical context?
• And how can fiber-based 3D printing be implemented minimally invasive, efficiently, and safely?

Holistic Approach

It is important to Andrea Toulouse to "think things through to the end" and connect them to medicine. To promote the transfer to clinical applications, she will integrate her group into the new research network Bionic Intelligence Tübingen Stuttgart (BITS), Germany, under the Cyber Valley umbrella, whose co-spokesperson Prof. Syn Schmitt has already supported the funding proposal. The profile area Biomedical Systems and Robotics for Health at the University of Stuttgart will also be strengthened by the junior research group, and numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration with other members in the profile area could arise.

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