Netherlands – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – Ex Ante publicatie voornemen tot gunning zonder voorafgaande bekendmaking Bioprinting station

The bioprinter is fully integrated into a Class II – A2 biosafety cabinet providing safety for the user and during the full bioprinting workflow. The bioprinter includes: a) a pneumatic, b) a volumetric, c) a dynamic formulation module, d) a droplet dispenser, e) a height calibration system, f) a work platform with integrated cooling and heating through an adjacent controller module, g) cartridges temperature controlling units, h) light crosslinking unit, and (melt) electrospinning or electrowritting unit with print head and work platform. The bioprinter is controlled with a fully integrated software suite that offers full control over the different bioprinter configurations and workflows. The uniqueness of this system is that it allows a seamless and complete integration of the different printer heads and work platform configurations. Furthermore, a particular printer head that has the most importance for the project being that of the multiple bioink combination on a microfluidic chip (dynamic formulation module) that allows the creation of continuous gradients within solid or core-shell fibers. There is no other product in the market that allow the described integration of multiple printer heads with the dynamic formulation module. The described bioprinter solution is required as it is the only one fulfilling the research needs envisioned for the ERC-CoG project NEPHRON. The in vitro model that is aimed on the NEPHRON project will require the combination of different bioprinting modalities (printer heads) and the dynamic formulation module is essential as different perfusable channels are needed in such model. Furthermore, to combine the different modalities with biomaterials inks with gradients is only achievable with the dynamic module which is essential to allow the expected morphogenesis and maturation of the envisioned model after bioprinting. Over the past months other suppliers were consulted, and alternative products were offered. These products do not allow to perform the research described within the project description of action. Other suppliers might be able to offer alternative solutions with additional engineering and product development as these might not be readily available commercially. Example of other companies in the bioprinting field include: A competitor which developed a microfluidic bioprinting system, but this does not include multiple print heads working in parallel and is currently not commercializing their bioprinters. A competiror commercializes a system that includes a biosafety cabinet and a droplet on demand laser induced forward transfer print head along with pneumatic printheads. All the other print heads mentioned above are not offered by Poietis. A competitor commercializes a bioprinter with multiple printer heads but do not offer an equivalent to the dynamic (previously mentioned) and the full integration with the biosafety cabinet as this is supplied by 3rd party providers. As previously mentioned, the suppliers consulted do not provide a complete solution and/or alternatives to key bioprinter heads as the ones necessary for the NEPRON project execution.