Cancer testing/screening procedures used in developing new drug therapies take years and are founded on the use of 2D cell cultures and animal models prior to human trials.  This pathway is not always representative of how a drug will perform in humans since 2D technology cannot print multi-material bio-cell structures for evaluating new drug performance.   To improve this process, research has focused on multi-material 3D bioprinting incorporating the additive manufacturing process to construct cell-embedded hydrogel structures for cancer drug screening.

The conceptual technology presents a stereolithography-based bioprinter working on a UV range of 380 nm capable of printing 3D cell-embedded hydrogel-based microfluidic chips for cancer drug studies in a single step eliminating model construction, cell positioning, or UV curing. The printed microfluidic chip model includes in-vivo cell positioning design and can replicate in-vivo stiffness of organs/tissues with varying hydrogel concentrations.

Competitive Advantages

• The multi-material 3D bioprinter can fabricate cell-embedded hydrogels in a single process improving upon current methods that do not offer single step, multi-material capabilities.
• The majority of stereolithographic digital light projector-based bioprinters used today are handmade and only capable of operating in a laboratory for a specific application.  The Rowan technology provides added operational flexibility and versatility for cancer drug discovery assessments.  

Opportunity

• The global 3D printing healthcare market was valued at $973 million in 2018 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18.2% through 2026, reaching a value of $3.7 billion.
• 3D printing integrating the additive manufacturing process has potential applications beyond cancer drug discovery, including cancer drug toxicity testing, cancer cell-cell/cell-matrix interaction assessments, and cancer metastasis evaluations. 

Rowan University is seeking a partner(s) for further development and commercialization of this technology. The inventor is available to collaborate with interested companies.