Nov 17, 2016 | By Tess

Guohao Dai, a newly appointed faculty member at Northeastern University’s Department of Bioengineering, is one of many ambitious and innovative individuals working on the advancement of 3D bioprinting, a field which could revolutionize modern medical treatments. Specifically, Dai has been working on 3D bioprinting live tissues for exploring blood vessel regeneration and potentially treating vascular diseases.

Guohao Dai, associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University

Vascular diseases, which include such conditions as aneurysms, Raynaud’s Syndrome, and lymphedema, are caused by abnormal conditions of blood vessels and affect millions of people in the U.S. alone. Dai, an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering, is hoping to advance treatments of vascular diseases with his specially designed 3D bioprinter.

As the researcher explains, and as we well know, regular desktop or even industrial 3D printers cannot be used for 3D bioprinting, as the organic material is much too delicate for the robust machines. Rather, 3D bioprinters have to be extremely delicate. As Dai explains, “It requires a very gentle process to build a live tissue. If we use an industrial 3D printer to print live tissue, all the cells would be dead.”

To overcome this challenge, Dai has created his own 3D bioprinter and accompanying software which are capable of printing tissue cultures that can be used for such applications as human disease modeling and drug discovery. As is own focus is on vascular conditions and blood vessel regeneration, the researcher has been using his machine to 3D print tissues with small channels that essentially function as blood vessels. While Dai has not gone as far as 3D printing human tissue yet, he is confident that his current work is leading there. “It’s one step toward fabricated tissue with blood flow,” he commented.

So far, Dai has received much support for his 3D bioprinting project, having won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2014 for the purpose of furthering stem cell research in the vascular field. Dai’s work is also being funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Heart Association. Ultimately, Dai is hoping to develop an innovative therapeutic approach for treating and exploring vascular and blood vessel related conditions.

Dai, who recently joined Northeastern University’s faculty in Boston, Massachusetts, previously worked at the Rens­se­laer Poly­technic Insti­tute in Troy, NY. The accomplished researcher received his doctorate in biomedical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, and his post-doctoral training in vascular biology at Harvard Medical School.

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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Xi Wun wrote at 11/22/2016 11:46:29 AM:Good old uncle Dai, trying his best to make vessels but getting confused and frustrated. Finally things don't get anywhere and they fall apart. But just remember the words 'Didi mao'



