Advances in Cell-Rich Inks for Biofabricating Living Architectures.

Advancing biofabrication towards manufacturing living constructs with well-defined architectures and increasingly biologically relevant cell densities is highly desired to mimic the biofunctionality of native human tissues. The formulation of tissue-like, cell-dense inks for biofabrication remains, however, challenging at various levels of the bioprinting process. Promising advances have been made towards this goal, and relatively high cell densities have been achieved, surpassing the limited cell densities of conventional platforms, pushing the current boundaries a step closer to achieving tissue-like cell densities. On this focus, herein we discuss the overarching challenges in the bioprocessing of cell-rich living inks into clinically-grade engineered tissues, as well as highlight the most recent advances in cell-rich living ink formulations and their processing technologies. Additionally, an overview of the foreseen developments in the field is provided and critically discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.