Development and characterization of a low-cost 3D bioprinter

Abstract Bioprinting complex three-dimensional architectures of cell-laden hydrogels is a promising approach for creating custom living tissues. However, it is challenging to fabricate hydrogel-based constructs at both high-throughput and high-resolution; bioprinters that offer both advantages are generally not affordable for most researchers. Thus, there is an unmet need for low-cost, open-source bioprinters. Such an accessible tool will enable rapid design iterations to accelerate the ongoing research and development of biomimetic tissues and biomaterial use. Here, we develop and implement a low-cost hybrid bioprinter using both inkjet and extrusion print heads, which are capable of printing gelatin methacryloyl and alginate, respectively. We characterized the geometric accuracy of the plotter. Moreover, the printing and crosslinking parameters were optimized to maximize the cell viability.