Boosting Bioethics & Bioprinting

PROJECT SUMMARY Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technologies (including extrusion-, droplet-, and laser-based 3D bioprinting) have been accelerating at a rapid pace and could be revolutionary for precision medicine. The development and refinement of these bioprinting techniques offer potential for the precise manufacturing cells, tissues, and organs to be used in clinical care (such as organ transplantations) and for use in important biomedical research (such as in-vitro tissue models for drug screening and disease modeling). Despite the remarkable progress and improvements in 3D bioprinting technologies, they are not without challenges (including vascularization challenges that impede biofabrication of complex structures, such as bone tissue and bronchopulmonary segments). It is essential for the safe, effective, and equitable design, development, and ultimate use of 3D bioprinting technologies that the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) are addressed proactively and concurrently with the scientific challenges. For this reason, bioethics research capacity building initiatives are urgently needed. To begin to address this need, the proposed project launches a new interdisciplinary collaboration—involving engineering, bioethics, anthropological, and legal expertise—to create high-quality, profoundly integrative educational resources and opportunities specifically for current and future scientists and engineers in the field of 3D bioprinting. In this one-year supplemental project, we will inspire intellectual curiosity and expand awareness in ELSI among regenerative medicine faculty and students by hosting a new webinar series on bioethics and bioprinting (Aim 1); creating novel educational modules and resources for an integrated and adaptable approach to bioethics and bioprinting training (Aim 2); and offer unique educational opportunities while evaluating the educational modules and resources (Aim 3). By leveraging the unique strengths of Penn State University (including, notably, the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; the Rock Ethics Institute; and the Law, Policy and Engineering Initiative) and by strategically bridging an ongoing ELSI research project with an ongoing bioprinting research project, this proposed one-year supplemental project is intended to produce tools that support instructors in the larger bioethics community and to encourage other scholars to transcend siloed research practices and dismantle structural obstacles that hinder much needed multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary collaborations.