Regenerative medicine and tissue engineering have seen unprecedented growth in the past decade, driving the field of artificial tissue models towards a revolution in future medicine. Major progress has been achieved through the development of innovative biomanufacturing strategies to pattern and assemble cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) in three-dimensions (3D) to create functional tissue constructs. Bioprinting has emerged as a promising 3D biomanufacturing technology, enabling precise control over spatial and temporal distribution of cells and ECM. Bioprinting technology can be used to engineer artificial tissues and organs by producing scaffolds with controlled spatial heterogeneity of physical properties, cellular composition, and ECM organization. This innovative approach is increasingly utilized in biomedicine, and has potential to create artificial functional constructs for drug screening and toxicology research, as well as tissue and organ transplantation. Herein, we review the recent advances in bioprinting technologies and discuss current markets, approaches, and biomedical applications. We also present current challenges and provide future directions for bioprinting research.

Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture has emerged as a pioneering methodology and is increasingly utilized for tissue engineering, 3D bioprinting, cancer model studies and drug development studies. The 3D cell culture methodology provides artificial and functional cellular constructs serving as a modular playground prior to animal model studies, which saves substantial efforts, time and experimental costs. The major drawback of current 3D cell culture methods is their dependency on biocompatible scaffolds, which often require tedious syntheses and fabrication steps. Herein, we report an easy-to-use methodology for the formation of scaffold-free 3D cell culture and cellular assembly via magnetic levitation in the presence of paramagnetic agents. To paramagnetize the cell culture environment, three different Gadolinium(iii) chelates were utilized, which led to levitation and assembly of cells at a certain levitation height. The assembly and close interaction of cells at the levitation height where the magnetic force was equilibrated with gravitational force triggered the formation of complex 3D cellular structures. It was shown that Gd(iii) chelates provided an optimal levitation that induced intercellular interactions in scaffold-free format without compromising cell viability. NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblasts and HCC827 non-small-cell lung cancer cells were evaluated via the magnetic levitation system, and the formation of 3D cell culture models was validated for both cell lines. Hereby, the developed magnetic levitation system holds promises for complex cellular assemblies and 3D cell culture studies.

The magnetic levitation technique has been utilized to orientate and manipulate objects both in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D) to form complex structures by combining various types of materials. Magnetic manipulation holds great promise for several applications such as self-assembly of soft substances and biological building blocks, manipulated tissue engineering, as well as cell or biological molecule sorting for diagnostic purposes. Recent studies are proving the potential of magnetic levitation as an emerging tool in biotechnology. This review outlines the advances of newly developing magnetic levitation technology on biological applications in aqueous environment from the biotechnology perspective.

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The objective of this work is generation of propolis/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) scaffold by electrospinning for 3D cell culture. Here, PVA used as co‐spinning agent since propolis alone cannot be easily processed by electrospinning methodology. Propolis takes charge in maximizing biological aspect of scaffold to facilitate cell attachment and proliferation. Morphological analysis showed size of the electrospun nanofibers varied between 172–523 nm and 345–687 nm in diameter, for non‐crosslinked and crosslinked scaffolds, respectively. Incorporation of propolis resulted in desired surface properties of hybrid matrix, where hybrid scaffolds highly favored protein adsorption. To examine cell compatibility, NIH‐3T3 and HeLa cells were seeded on propolis/PVA hybrid scaffold. Results confirmed that integration of propolis supported cell adhesion and cell proliferation. Also, results indicated electrospun propolis/PVA hybrid scaffold provide suitable microenvironment for cell culturing. Therefore, developed hybrid scaffold could be considered as potential candidate for 3D cell culture and tissue engineering.