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HomeLithography-based 3D printing of hydrogels | Nature Reviews Bioengineering
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Additive manufacturing is an engineering tool that enables the creation of complex structures for biomedical use, such as 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, as well as in vitro disease models for drug testing. In particular, lithography-based techniques such as digital light processing and volumetric additive manufacturing have enabled advances in the 3D processing of photoreactive resins into structured hydrogels. In this Review, we introduce light-based lithographic 3D printing methods to process hydrogels and provide a guide to lithography-based printing, from bioresin selection to the optimization of print parameters. Moreover, we highlight examples of in vitro and in vivo biomedical applications of hydrogels, for which lithography-based approaches have been leveraged, and discuss efforts to process hydrogels into heterogeneous structures with multi-scale organization. Finally, we provide a perspective on the challenges and opportunities in this field.
Lithography-based 3D printing achieves high-resolution structures without compromising the speed of fabrication.
Hydrogels can be processed using several lithography-based methods to control hydrogel structure, as well as biochemical and biophysical properties.
Lithography-based printing involves a sequence of steps from resin formulation through post-processing.
Printed hydrogels are promising for applications from tissue engineering to in vitro models for drug screening.
Advanced lithography-based methods are increasing the complexity of printed structures, expanding their use to new applications.
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The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institutes of Health (R01HL160616, R01AR077362 and R01AR056624) and thank J. Killgore, T. Kolibaba, H. Zlotnick and B. Kirkpatrick for discussions and critical feedback on the manuscript.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Abhishek P. Dhand & Jason A. Burdick
BioFrontiers Insstitute and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Matthew D. Davidson & Jason A. Burdick
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Correspondence to Jason A. Burdick.
The authors have submitted a provisional patent related to lithography-based printing of hydrogels.
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Dhand, A.P., Davidson, M.D. & Burdick, J.A. Lithography-based 3D printing of hydrogels. Nat Rev Bioeng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00251-9
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Published: 16 October 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-024-00251-9
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