Design and 3D Printing of Vascular Networks Using a
Diffusion-Based Strategy

The global shortage of transplantable organs remains a critical healthcare crisis, with hundreds of thousands of patients on waiting lists and far too few donors to meet the demand. One promising approach to combat this is 3D bioprinting, which uses biomaterial inks to fabricate tissue-like structures, with the ultimate goal of printing fully functional organs on demand. However, a major challenge in this field is the ability to biofabricate complex vascular networks. Our lab utilizes a novel diffusion-based biofabrication technique known as the Gelation of Uniform Interfacial Diffusant in Embedded 3D Printing (GUIDE-3DP) to enable the creation of complex, self-supporting, interconnected, and perfusable channel networks with varying dimensions. Our efforts to better understand and advance our printed structures have led us to successfully mimic native physiology in 2D and are currently working to translate this newfound knowledge towards 3D architectures. Through this project, we hope to bridge gaps in existing bioprinting techniques that can potentially be monumental in the creation of 3D bioprinting functional, personalized and biocompatible organs.