Biofabrication in tissue engineering

Abstract

Biofabrication has been extensively explored in tissue engineering over the past two decades. It uses bioactive materials and live cells as the building blocks to create spatially defined geometries. The goal of biofabrication is to create engineered tissue constructs to replace damaged or diseased human tissues with full functionality. The advantage is that it can rapidly fabricate tissue constructs to meet customized needs. The biomaterials used for biofabrication are called bioinks and usually comprise hydrogel precursor solutions or biocompatible thermal plastics. In this review, we review the commonly used biofabrication methods and critical aspects for creating scaffolds for tissue regeneration. We discuss the criteria for developing and selecting suitable biomaterials as the bioinks. Commonly used biomaterials and their applications are summarized to present the versatility of biofabrication. We also aim to highlight the challenges of this technology and initiate new ideas and opportunities in the future developments in the bioprinting approach and bioinks. The refinement in fabrication techniques, exploration in biology, and development in new bioinks are essential elements toward the advancement of biofabrication.