PrintBio joins federal kidney bioprinting program
ARPA-H PRINT initiative aimed at addressing growing organ shortage through the development of on-demand bioprinted kidney tissue for transplantation
PrintBio, a New York City-based regenerative medicine and bioprinting company, has joined a multidisciplinary research consortium that’s being funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) – a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The mission is to develop bioprinted, vascularized kidney tissue for patients with end-stage renal disease. The implantable tissue would then be manufactured from patients’ own renal cells, combined with bioinks engineered to support long-term cell viability and function.
Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine will lead the group, with up to $24.8 million to be awarded over a five-year period through ARPA-H’s Personalized Regenerative Immunocompetent Nanotechnology Tissue (PRINT) program.
PRINT focuses on three key technical areas: cell generation for organ bioprinting, large scale manufacturing of cell types, and organ biofabrication and testing for safety and efficacy.
PrintBio will focus on bringing its bioprinting and translational manufacturing capabilities to the program, which will also count on the expertise of researchers from the University of Maryland, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Rice University.
“I am excited to collaborate with WFIRM and the rest of the exceptional academic groups to combine our talents towards this important goal of creating personalized, on-demand kidneys that have the potential to transform treatment of ESRD and save lives,” stated Dr. Kevin Slawin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at PrintBio, and who formerly practiced as a urologic oncology surgeon.
Beyond tissue engineering, PrintBio has developed programmable surgical materials, including its 3D printed bioresorbable mesh platforms, DynaFlex and DynaForm platforms. In its original incarnation, the company – known as 3DBio Therapeutics – achieved the first FDA-authorized clinical implantation of a 3D bioprinted living implant in 2022, when it performed a human ear reconstruction.
