Co-Leads: Axel Guenther and Teodor Veres
Aim: to develop biofabrication (biofab) strategies for tissue- and patient-specific structures in laboratory and preclinical settings.
Millions of people worldwide are in dire need of lifesaving treatments for damaged and/or dysfunctional organs and tissues. The World Health Organization estimates that the total number of organ transplants performed every year (~145,000) represents only 10% of the actual global need. Available treatments—such donor organs, replacement tissues and tissue engineering solutions—cannot address this gap.
Biofabrication, the automated generation of functional products consisting of living cells, biomaterials and synthetic materials, can generate these much-needed tissue and organ substitutes. However, current biofabrication technology is only capable of producing millimeter-to-centimeter-sized tissues, which is insufficient for treating damaged or dysfunctional tissues and organs in people. Most human organs are at least one order of magnitude larger in size and at least three orders of magnitude larger in volume than engineered tissues that we can currently produce in the lab. We need economical biofabrication strategies tailored to the clinic, which can produce larger amounts and bigger pieces of engineered tissues under clinical conditions and at clinically relevant rates.
| Researcher | Affiliation(s) | Research Summary | Research Page | Contact email |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Axel Guenther | Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto; Co-Director for the Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) | Dr. Guenther's group develops nano/microfabrication and microdevices for applications in organs-on-chips and 2D and 3D printing of organized soft materials (e.g., engineered human tissue substitutes). His team has invented several patented 3D bioprinting approaches to mimic nature’s ability to rapidly achieve the controlled hierarchical organization of cells and biomolecules within robust constructs. These include a handheld 3D printer that can in situ deliver skin precursor sheets for the treatment of full-thickness burns. His team also introduced one of the first organ-on-a-chip platforms, a microfluidic device for the functional characterization of intact small blood vessels. This ‘blood vessel-on-a-chip’ device is now sold commercially by Quorum Technologies. | Guenther Lab | guenther@mie.utoronto.ca |
Teodor Veres | Director Research and Development in the Bio-Analytical MicroNano Devices section (BioAMND) at the National Research Council of Canada; Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto; Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University; Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Laval University; Co-Director of the Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) | Dr. Veres leads the Bio-Analytical MicroNano Devices section (BioAMND) at the National Research Council of Canada in Boucherville, Quebec. Under his leadership, the BioAMND has filed over 135 patent applications, 37 of which were granted, and licensed 8 of its technologies. Dr. Veres pioneered the use of thermoplastic elastomeric materials (TPEs) for the rapid, low-cost fabrication of lab-on-chip microfluidic devices with scalable methods and materials. These advances are paving the way for the mass production and broad deployment of low-cost complex microfluidic devices. His team at NRC developed the PowerBlade, a microfluidic technology that will soon be deployed to the International Space Station through a collaboration between Canadian Space Agency and the Canadian space industry. | NRC Medical Devices Research Centre | teodor.veres@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca |
Afshin Abrishamkar | NRC Research Officer; Assistant Professor (status-only) in the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto | His multidisciplinary research lies at the intersection of microfluidics, biomedical engineering, and materials science, leveraging advanced microfluidic and microfabrication techniques to enable scalable production of bio-inspired materials and medical devices for biomedical and healthcare applications. | Afshin Abrishamkar | afshin.abrishamkar@utoronto.ca |
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