3D Printing and Patterning Vasculature in Engineered Tissues

Regenerative medicine offers the potential to develop patient-specific three-dimensional (3D) tissue constructs for treatment of human pathologies. However, our field generally lacks the ability to recreate, in vitro , the heterogeneous patterns of cells and matrix which are hallmarks of native tissue. 3D printing and patterning techniques now offer the ability to control the shape and architecture of constructs with high precision, and have transitioned to include vasculature to boost mass transport. The controlled exploration of the wide parameter space available with biocompatible manufacturing technologies will allow us to engineer 3D matrices for future studies assessing cell behavior in heterogeneous and physiologically relevant settings.