3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

Angelique Van Ombergen; Franziska Chalupa-Gantner; Parth Chansoria; Bianca Maria Colosimo; Marco Costantini; Marco Domingos; Alexandre Dufour; Carmelo De Maria; Jürgen Groll; Tomasz Jungst; Riccardo Levato; Jos Malda; Alessandro Margarita; Christophe Marquette; Aleksandr Ovsianikov; Emma Petiot; Sophia Read; Leonardo Surdo; Wojciech Swieszkowski; Giovanni Vozzi; Johannes Windisch; Marcy Zenobi-Wong; Michael Gelinsky

doi:10.1002/adhm.202300443

3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

Angelique Van Ombergen, Franziska Chalupa-Gantner, Parth Chansoria, Bianca Maria Colosimo, Marco Costantini, Marco Domingos, Alexandre Dufour, Carmelo De Maria, Jürgen Groll, Tomasz Jungst, Riccardo Levato, Jos Malda, Alessandro Margarita, Christophe Marquette, Aleksandr Ovsianikov, Emma Petiot, Sophia Read, Leonardo Surdo, Wojciech Swieszkowski, Giovanni VozziJohannes Windisch, Marcy Zenobi-Wong, Michael Gelinsky^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

3D bioprinting has developed tremendously in the last couple of years and enables the fabrication of simple, as well as complex, tissue models. The international space agencies have recognized the unique opportunities of these technologies for manufacturing cell and tissue models for basic research in space, in particular for investigating the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on different types of human tissues. In addition, bioprinting is capable of producing clinically applicable tissue grafts, and its implementation in space therefore can support the autonomous medical treatment options for astronauts in future long term and far-distant space missions. The article discusses opportunities but also challenges of operating different types of bioprinters under space conditions, mainly in microgravity. While some process steps, most of which involving the handling of liquids, are challenging under microgravity, this environment can help overcome problems such as cell sedimentation in low viscous bioinks. Hopefully, this publication will motivate more researchers to engage in the topic, with publicly available bioprinting opportunities becoming available at the International Space Station (ISS) in the imminent future.

Original language	English
Article number	2300443
Number of pages	19
Journal	Advanced healthcare materials
Volume	12
Issue number	23
Early online date	23 Jun 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202300443
Publication status	Published - 13 Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Funding

All authors contributed equally to this work. The authors want to thank several members of the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) of the European Space Agency ESA, namely Dr. Christiane Hahn, Dr. Andreas Schoen, Dr. Tommaso Ghidini, and Pierfilippo Manieri for stimulating discussions and valuable insights, as well as Dr. Markus Braun from the German Space Agency at DLR for the same. The authors acknowledge the contributions of Prof. Dr. Nieves Cubo Mateo (Nebrija University, Madrid, Spain) to the development of the topic. Special thanks go to Sophia Read for the thorough review of the manuscript with regard to its linguistic quality. The manuscript has been conceptualized by the ESA Topical Team on “3D Bioprinting of living tissue for utilization in space exploration and extraterrestrial human settlements”, coordinated by M.G. Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

Funders	Funder number
European Space Research and Technology Centre
Nebrija University
European Space Agency
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt

Keywords

additive manufacturing
biofabrication
low Earth orbit – LEO
space

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Adv Healthcare Materials - 2023 - Van OmbergenFinal published version, 4.35 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

Van Ombergen, A., Chalupa-Gantner, F., Chansoria, P., Colosimo, B. M., Costantini, M., Domingos, M., Dufour, A., De Maria, C., Groll, J., Jungst, T., Levato, R., Malda, J., Margarita, A., Marquette, C., Ovsianikov, A., Petiot, E., Read, S., Surdo, L., Swieszkowski, W., ... Gelinsky, M. (2023). 3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space. Advanced healthcare materials, 12(23), Article 2300443. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202300443

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abstract = "3D bioprinting has developed tremendously in the last couple of years and enables the fabrication of simple, as well as complex, tissue models. The international space agencies have recognized the unique opportunities of these technologies for manufacturing cell and tissue models for basic research in space, in particular for investigating the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on different types of human tissues. In addition, bioprinting is capable of producing clinically applicable tissue grafts, and its implementation in space therefore can support the autonomous medical treatment options for astronauts in future long term and far-distant space missions. The article discusses opportunities but also challenges of operating different types of bioprinters under space conditions, mainly in microgravity. While some process steps, most of which involving the handling of liquids, are challenging under microgravity, this environment can help overcome problems such as cell sedimentation in low viscous bioinks. Hopefully, this publication will motivate more researchers to engage in the topic, with publicly available bioprinting opportunities becoming available at the International Space Station (ISS) in the imminent future.",

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note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors. Advanced Healthcare Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.",

year = "2023",

month = sep,

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Van Ombergen, A, Chalupa-Gantner, F, Chansoria, P, Colosimo, BM, Costantini, M, Domingos, M, Dufour, A, De Maria, C, Groll, J, Jungst, T, Levato, R , Malda, J, Margarita, A, Marquette, C, Ovsianikov, A, Petiot, E, Read, S, Surdo, L, Swieszkowski, W, Vozzi, G, Windisch, J, Zenobi-Wong, M & Gelinsky, M 2023, '3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space', Advanced healthcare materials, vol. 12, no. 23, 2300443. https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202300443

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T1 - 3D Bioprinting in Microgravity

T2 - Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

AU - Van Ombergen, Angelique

AU - Chalupa-Gantner, Franziska

AU - Chansoria, Parth

AU - Colosimo, Bianca Maria

AU - Costantini, Marco

AU - Domingos, Marco

AU - Dufour, Alexandre

AU - De Maria, Carmelo

AU - Groll, Jürgen

AU - Jungst, Tomasz

AU - Levato, Riccardo

AU - Malda, Jos

AU - Margarita, Alessandro

AU - Marquette, Christophe

AU - Ovsianikov, Aleksandr

AU - Petiot, Emma

AU - Read, Sophia

AU - Surdo, Leonardo

AU - Swieszkowski, Wojciech

AU - Vozzi, Giovanni

AU - Windisch, Johannes

AU - Zenobi-Wong, Marcy

AU - Gelinsky, Michael

PY - 2023/9/13

Y1 - 2023/9/13

N2 - 3D bioprinting has developed tremendously in the last couple of years and enables the fabrication of simple, as well as complex, tissue models. The international space agencies have recognized the unique opportunities of these technologies for manufacturing cell and tissue models for basic research in space, in particular for investigating the effects of microgravity and cosmic radiation on different types of human tissues. In addition, bioprinting is capable of producing clinically applicable tissue grafts, and its implementation in space therefore can support the autonomous medical treatment options for astronauts in future long term and far-distant space missions. The article discusses opportunities but also challenges of operating different types of bioprinters under space conditions, mainly in microgravity. While some process steps, most of which involving the handling of liquids, are challenging under microgravity, this environment can help overcome problems such as cell sedimentation in low viscous bioinks. Hopefully, this publication will motivate more researchers to engage in the topic, with publicly available bioprinting opportunities becoming available at the International Space Station (ISS) in the imminent future.

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KW - additive manufacturing

KW - biofabrication

KW - low Earth orbit – LEO

KW - space

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DO - 10.1002/adhm.202300443

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SN - 2192-2640

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ER -

3D Bioprinting in Microgravity: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Applications in Space

Abstract

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Keywords

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