Biofabrication is a branch of
biotechnology specialising in the
research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
of
biologically engineered processes for the
automated production of
biologically functional products through
bioprinting or bioassembly and subsequent
tissue maturation processes; as well as techniques such as directed assembly, which employs localised external stimuli guide the
fabrification process;
enzymatic assembly, which utilises selective
biocatalysts to build
macromolecular structures; and
self-assembly, in which the biological material guides its own assembly according to its internal information. These processes may facilitate fabrication at the micro- and
nanoscales. Biofabricated products are constructed and structurally organised with a range of biological materials including
bioactive molecules,
biomaterials,
living cells, cell aggregates such as micro-
tissues and micro-
organs on chips
An organ-on-a-chip (OOC) is a multi-channel 3-D microfluidic cell culture, integrated circuit (chip) that simulates the activities, mechanics and physiological response of an entire organ or an organ system, a type of artificial organ. It consti ...
, and hybrid cell-material constructs.
See also
References
Works cited
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Biological engineering
Biotechnology
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