Tissue engineering specialist Frontier Bio has successfully 3D bioprinted microscale lung tissues that mimic natural organ development for the first time.
The company says its “groundbreaking achievement” was made possible by its proprietary technology, as well as stem cells, which naturally self-organize. With further R&D, it’s hoped that these tissues can one day be used in place of animal drug testing.
Commonly used in preclinical drug development, animal testing often fails to properly represent human biology, leading to high rates of failure in human trials. Produced from a mixture of cells found in the lung, Frontier Bio’s microtissues – which have demonstrated the ability to assemble into mucus-generating bronchioles and air sacs – offer a natural human alternative.
Moving forwards, the firm says these cell constructs could also be used for disease modeling, not just for researching lung disease, but cancer, pulmonary fibrosis, COVID-19, and more.
Though Frontier Bio’s technology still has a long way to go, CEO Eric Bennett believes it could even be used as a basis for creating replacement lung tissues that “fundamentally change the landscape” of transplants, and “give hope to thousands of patients.”
The idea of 3D printing transplantable lung tissue still sounds like science fiction. But Frontier Bio may have just taken a small step towards making it science fact.
