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There is an increasing medical need for the development of new materials that could replace damaged organs, improve healing of critical wounds or provide the environment required for the formation of a new healthy tissue. The three-dimensional (3D) printing approach has emerged to overcome several of the major deficiencies of tissue engineering. The use of Cannabis sativa as a therapy for some diseases has spread throughout the world thanks to its benefits for patients. In this work, we developed a bioink made with gelatin and alginate that was able to be printed using an extrusion 3D bioprinter. The scaffolds obtained were lyophilized, characterized and the swelling was assessed. In addition, the scaffolds were loaded with Cannabis sativa oil extract. The presence of the extract provided antimicrobial and antioxidant activity to the 3D scaffolds. Altogether, our results suggest that the new biocompatible material printed with 3D technology and with the addition of Cannabis sativa oil could become an attractive alternative to common treatments of soft-tissue infections and wound repair. Pablo E. Antezana is grateful for his postdoctoral fellowship granted by the CONICET. The authors would like to acknowledge grants from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBACYT 20020150100056BA and PIDAE 2022 (Martín F. Desimone), which supported this work. Gorka Orive wishes to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (PID2019-106094RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and to acknowledge technical assistance from the ICTS NANBIOSIS (Drug Formulation Unit, U10) at the University of the Basque Country. We also appreciate the support from the Basque Country Government (Grupos Consolidados, No ref: IT1448-22).

Tissue engineering has become a medical alternative in this society with an ever-increasing lifespan. Advances in the areas of technology and biomaterials have facilitated the use of engineered constructs for medical issues. This review discusses on-going concerns and the latest developments in a widely employed biomaterial in the field of tissue engineering: gelatin. Emerging techniques including 3D bioprinting and gelatin functionalization have demonstrated better mimicking of native tissue by reinforcing gelatin-based systems, among others. This breakthrough facilitates, on the one hand, the manufacturing process when it comes to practicality and cost-effectiveness, which plays a key role in the transition towards clinical application. On the other hand, it can be concluded that gelatin could be considered as one of the promising biomaterials in future trends, in which the focus might be on the detection and diagnosis of diseases rather than treatment. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competi- tiveness (PID2019-106094RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the Basque Government who awarded Ph.D. grants (I.L. PRE_2021_2_0023; I.E. PRE_2021_2_0021).

Skin tissue engineering and regeneration aim at repairing defective skin injuries and progress in wound healing. Until now, even though several developments are made in this field, it is still challenging to face the complexity of the tissue with current methods of fabrication. In this review, short, state-of-the-art on developments made in skin tissue engineering using 3D bioprinting as a new tool are described. The current bioprinting methods and a summary of bioink formulations, parameters, and properties are discussed. Finally, a representative number of examples and advances made in the field together with limitations and future needs are provided.

With the aim of fabricating drug-loaded implantable patches, a 3D printing technique was employed to produce novel coaxial hydrogel patches. The core-section of these patches contained a dopamine-modified methacrylated alginate hydrogel loaded with a chemotherapeutic drug (Gemcitabine), while their shell section was solely comprised of a methacrylated alginate hydrogel. Subsequently, these patches were further modified with CaCO3 cross linker and a polylactic acid (PLA) coating to facilitate prolonged release of the drug. Consequently, the results showed that addition of CaCO3 to the formula enhanced the mechanical properties of the patches and significantly reduced their swelling ratio as compared to that for patches without CaCO3. Furthermore, addition of PLA coating to CaCO3-containing patches has further reduced their swelling ratio, which then significantly slowed down the release of Gemcitabine, to a point where 4-layered patches could release the drug over a period of 7 days in vitro. Remarkably, it was shown that 3-layered and 4-layered Gemcitabine loaded patches were successful in inhibiting pancreatic cancer cell growth for a period of 14 days when tested in vitro. Lastly, in vivo experiments showed that gemcitabine-loaded 4-layered patches were capable of reducing the tumor growth rate and caused no severe toxicity when tested in mice. Altogether, 3D printed hydrogel patches might be used as biocompatible implants for local delivery of drugs to diseased site, to either shrink the tumor or to prevent the tumor recurrence after resection. This study was supported by the Korean Health Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI14C2640). This work was conducted with funding from the Illawarra Cancer Carers and the PanCare Foundation (APP1165978, administered by Cancer Australia) awarded to K.L.V. This study was funded by the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Materials Science (Grant No. CE140100012). The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council under Discovery Early Career Researcher award (J. Foroughi DE130100517).

The efficacy of current standard chemotherapy is suboptimal due to the poor solubility and short half-lives of chemotherapeutic agents, as well as their high toxicity and lack of specificity which may result in severe side effects, noncompliance and patient inconvenience. The application of nanotechnology has revolutionized the pharmaceutical industry and attracted increasing attention as a significant means for optimizing the delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and enhancing their efficiency and safety profiles. Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are lipid-based formulations that have been broadly studied as drug delivery systems. They have a solid matrix at room temperature and are considered superior to many other traditional lipid-based nanocarriers such as nanoemulsions, liposomes and solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) due to their enhanced physical stability, improved drug loading capacity, and biocompatibility. This review focuses on the latest advances in the use of NLCs as drug delivery systems and their preparation and characterization techniques with special emphasis on their applications as delivery systems for chemotherapeutic agents and different strategies for their use in tumor targeting. This research was funded by Aljalila foundation, grant number AJF201777.

Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is characterized by the autoimmune destruction of beta-cells in the pancreatic islets. In this regard, islet transplantation aims for the replacement of the damaged beta-cells through minimally invasive surgical procedures, thereby being the most suitable strategy to cure T1DM. Unfortunately, this procedure still has limitations for its widespread clinical application, including the need for long-term immunosuppression, the lack of pancreas donors and the loss of a large percentage of islets after transplantation. To overcome the aforementioned issues, islets can be encapsulated within hydrogel-like biomaterials to diminish the loss of islets, to protect the islets resulting in a reduction or elimination of immunosuppression and to enable the use of other insulin-producing cell sources. This review aims to provide an update on the different hydrogel-based encapsulation strategies of insulin-producing cells, highlighting the advantages and drawbacks for a successful clinical application. Authors thank the support to research on cell microencapsulation from the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (EHUa16/06 to L.SB) and the Basque Country Government (Grupos Consolidados, ref. no.: IT907-16 to J.L. P). Authors also thank ICTS "NANBIOSIS", specifically by the Drug Formulation Unit (U10) of the CIBER in Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) at the University of Basque Country UPV/EHU in Vitoria-Gasteiz.