Collaborative Fundamental Research for the Bioprinting of Cutaneous Constructs applied to the treatment of chronic wounds

Non-healing skin wounds reduce mobility and increase psychological stress in affected patients. The economic, social and personal impact of difficult-to-heal wounds is serious and has led this pathology to be considered a silent epidemic. In fact, in Spain, 5.2% of healthcare expenditure is dedicated to the care of these wounds. 

In this project, the main objective is the design and development of a new advanced precision technology for the additive manufacturing (3D bioprinting) of functional skin constructs that constitute a sustainable therapy to face the challenge of chronic wounds. 

To achieve this, based on the capabilities of the proposal leader (BIOCRUCES BIZKAIA) and the participating partners (BIODONOSTIA, TECNALIA, BIOMAT UPV/EHU, BIOLOGÍA CELULAR UPV/EHU and VICOMTECH), the Bioprinting4Healing (B4H) project will combine a series of interdisciplinary fundamental research tasks and activities in areas such as: engineering, informatics, biopolymers, chemistry, stem cells, medicine, advanced animal models of wound healing and health regulatory environment.

In this project, VICOMTECH focuses on the development of software to generate 3D bioprinting trajectories of constructs with specialized strategies to overcome the challenges of working with printing materials with low retractility, such as generating strictly continuous trajectories and planning trajectories that minimize the passage of the print head over areas already printed or to be printed later.

This project is subsidized by the Elkartek 2019 call (file KK 2019/00006) of the Department of Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government.