Massimo@Rainmaker1973
Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Kyungpook National University in South Korea have achieved a major milestone by 3D printing an artificial cornea using a specialized "bioink" made from decellularized corneal stroma and stem cells.
The work, led by teams including Professor Dong-Woo Cho (POSTECH) and collaborators like Professor Hong Kyun Kim (Kyungpook National University School of Medicine), was published in 2019. They developed a biocompatible bioink derived from decellularized corneal stroma (the extracellular matrix from corneal tissue with cells removed) combined with stem cells. This allowed them to 3D-print an artificial cornea that closely mimics the natural structure.
Key innovation: By precisely controlling shear stress (the frictional force during extrusion through the printer nozzle), they aligned collagen fibrils into the characteristic lattice pattern of a human cornea. This alignment is critical for the cornea's transparency and mechanical properties—something challenging or impossible with purely synthetic materials, as random collagen organization causes opacity or weakness.
[Kim, H., Jang, J., Park, J., Lee, K.-P., Lee, S., Lee, D.-M., Kim, K. H., Kim, H. K., & Cho, D.-W. (2019). Shear-induced alignment of collagen fibrils using 3D cell printing for corneal stroma tissue engineering. Biofabrication, 11(3), 035017. DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/ab1a8b]
