12 investigators from The Johns Hopkins University, comprising the Whiting School of Engineering (and the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Sciences); and the School of Medicine request $401,000 for the purchase of a Cyfuse Regenova 3D Bioprinter. The system will be sited in the Johns Hopkins University Integrated Imaging Center on the Homewood campus (IIC, http://pages.jh.edu/~iic); and will become a centralized resource for tissue engineering and research. The IIC is a Homewood campus/Hopkins- wide resource, jointly supported by the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering; and utilized regularly by multiple schools and departments comprising >150 laboratories and >600 users in the greater-Baltimore area. The Regenova 3D bioprinter from Cyfuse is the first 3D bio-printer premised on the Kenzan ?scaffold-free? method that allows for printing spheroids onto temporary micro-needle based scaffolds as a means for assembling spheroids into three-dimensional contiguous structures; and will complement several avenues of disparate, fundamental research including, though not limited to: tissue engineering and drug development; improved understanding of the use of STEM cells in microvascular tissue engineering; ion channel function in cardiac physiology; cardiac regeneration using multi-potent cardiac progenitor cells and cellular mechanisms that control induction, differentiation, and maintenance; fundamental tissue engineering of craniofacial and orthopedic constructs for use in therapeutic applications; and investigations into the role of various biophysical/biochemical factors that cooperate to achieve homeostasis (or pathogenesis) across molecular, cellular, and tissue levels. The Regenova Bio 3D printer will provide an experimental, and potentially clinical, resource for generating organismal tissue to effect and facilitate the aforementioned studies; and will be uniquely supportive to the tissue engineering researchers here at Hopkins. It will be incorporated into the IIC's existing, well established recharge system to ensure recovery of funds for supplies and maintenance; it will be made freely available to all interested users Hopkins-wide through workshops & hands-on training; and it will be incorporated into the IIC's annual undergraduate/graduate course offerings. (http://pages.jh.edu/~iic/academic.htm).
The Cyfuse Regenova 3D Printer will complement several avenues of disparate, fundamental research at Johns Hopkins, including, though not limited to: tissue engineering and drug development; improved understanding of the use of STEM cells in microvascular tissue engineering; ion channel function in cardiac physiology; cardiac regeneration using multi-potent cardiac progenitor cells and cellular mechanisms that control induction, differentiation, and maintenance; fundamental tissue engineering of craniofacial and orthopedic constructs for use in therapeutic applications; and investigations into the role of various biophysical/biochemical factors that cooperate to achieve homeostasis (or pathogenesis) across molecular, cellular, and tissue levels.
