Additive manufacturing with living production systems
A 2024 Green Chemistry study used the Brinter ONE multitool 3D bioprinter to manufacture living materials containing cyanobacteria or microalgae within a photocurable biopolymer matrix. The printed structures were designed not only to contain living cells, but to function as immobilised photosynthetic biocatalytic systems.
A manufacturing route for photosynthetic biocatalysis
The work combined alginate, photocurable galactoglucomannan and living photosynthetic cells, followed by 405 nm photocuring. The resulting printed biofilms remained attached to treated glass substrates and were investigated as living materials capable of supporting light-driven chemical production.
- Brinter ONE multitool platform.
- Photocurable bio-based material system.
- Cyanobacteria and microalgae incorporated into printable inks.
- 3D-printed living biofilms for biocatalytic chemical-production research.
- An application area spanning biofabrication, materials engineering and industrial biotechnology.
Beyond tissue engineering
This publication is a useful Brinter history milestone because it demonstrates that living-material printing can serve applications outside conventional tissue engineering. The same controlled deposition platform can be used to organise biological function for manufacturing, sensing, research and biocatalytic processes.