Development of cartilage tissue implants using organ printing technologies

University Medical Center Utrecht / Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Wouter Schuurman, Travis Klein & Jos Malda

Mature cartilage does not heal once it is damaged. Cartilage defects lead to early osteoarthrosis. Current treatment options have varying results and are not yet the ultimate solution to the problem. Regenerative Medicine, the science of teaching the body to heal itself, could bring a successful treatment closer.

In a collaborative effort, the UMC Utrecht and QUT are evaluating organ printing technologies for the production of living implants for cartilage repair.  Using a “bioprinter” (Bioscaffolder; Figure 1) cells and biomaterials can be simultaneously deposited into a 3-dimensional structure. After bioreactor culture the implant reaches its mature form and would contain zonal differences that resemble the differences in natural cartilage.

The proposed project will focus on (a) the zonal differences in native and engineered (printed) tissue equivalents, (b) evaluation of various biomaterials, (c) Fabrication (printing) of different construct architectures and/or (d) further development of the perfusion bioreactor system.

The project will take place at the UMC Utrecht as an internship (Department of Orthopaedics) in collaboration with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. Moreover, there is the possibility to continue the project (e.g. a second internship) at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, QUT, Brisbane Australia.

For further information please contact:
Dr. Jos Malda
Dept Orthopaedics
UMC Utrecht
088 7558078
j.malda@umcutrecht.nl