3D Bioprinting of humanized liver model for infection and cancer studies

The proposal aims at providing bioprinting as an enabling technology to the research consortium of the EC3R. 3D bioprinting has great potential to produce humanized organ models composed of multiple cell types with high spatial resolution. As a specific contribution, the proposed project will developd an advanced liver model composed of multiple cell types that are positioned in a biologically relevant arrangement. In addition to parenchymal hepatic cells, different non-parenchymal cells, including endothelial cells, stellate cells and macrophages will be included that are considered essential for the biological function of the liver. To date, numerous variants of liver models have been described in the literature, some of which are highly sophisticated and complex; however, they usually rely on the use of commercially unavailable printers developed in-house and/or limited patient-derived material, so that they are not readily available to the scientific (academic) community. The project will address these limitations by employing only commercially available bioprinting devices and cell sources that are available in sufficient amounts. We will provide bioprinted liver models for the collaborators in their 3R-related projects. In this project, we will analyze hepatotoxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and various pesticidal active compounds.