Awarded in 2022
Home Department: Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Mark Skylar-Scott (Bioengineering), Allison Okamura (Mechanical Engineering), and Michael Ma (Cardiothoracic Surgery)

Research Title: In Situ In Vivo 3D Bioprinting

Research Description: Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is advancing the field of regenerative medicine. However, technological solutions for bioprinting in inaccessible and occluded regions inside the body are scarce, limiting the potential for futuristic non-invasive bioprinting procedures within the patient. Concentric tube robots (CTRs) are surgical robots that are ideally poised for material deposition at difficult-to-reach sites due to their slender, tubular structure and inherently compliant nature. In this work, Fredrik proposes to develop an improved CTR-like system to print a bicuspid valve that subsequently will be sustained and validated in a bioreactor and, later, within the body of a porcine model. Successful completion of this work will lead to further developments in 3D bioprinting pushing the boundaries of non-invasive regenerative medicine.