A Victoria start-up working out of labs at the University of Victoria has developed what it believes is a powerful bioink, used in the 3-D printing of human tissue.
It says the innovation could play a big part in advancing the treatment of disease while 颅eliminating the need for animal testing to determine the efficacy of drug treatment.
Axolotl Biosciences was founded by doctors Stephanie Willerth and Laura De La Vega and biomedical engineer Laila Abelseth.
Willerth, a UVic professor of biomedical engineering and director of the university鈥檚 颅Centre for Biomedical Research, said 3-D printing is exploding around the world, with a 颅quarter of it devoted to health-care applications.
That鈥檚 the segment the company, named for a salamander with regenerative properties, has targeted.
鈥淭he market for bioinks is a couple of hundred million 颅dollars alone,鈥� said Willerth. 鈥淎nd there isn鈥檛 a comparable product, in terms of getting such good cell function and viability, on the market right now.鈥�
Willerth said getting their bioink to print while promoting good cell adhesion, which is key in creating tissue that acts and reacts like human tissue, was a big hurdle. But the group managed to develop a bioink that can be used to print stem-cell derived tissue that is likely to be in heavy demand.
Axolotl has already shipped ink to a number of testers for use in various applications.
Willerth said they tend to focus on printing mini brains and spinal cords that can be used to screen potential treatments. 鈥淥ur whole lab here is neural,鈥� she said, noting they can print tissue using cells from patients suffering from 颅Alzheimer鈥檚 颅disease that will exhibit the symptoms of the disease.
That tissue can then be used to screen treatments. If one is found to reverse damage, it could be used to treat the patient who donated the cells.
Willerth said the bioink can also be used to create 颅cardiovascular tissue, vessels and other tissues susceptible to cancer. It has even been used by an infertility clinic to print 颅miniature testes to 颅determine the cause of some male 颅infertility.
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite a versatile 颅material,鈥� she said.
Their early work hasn鈥檛 gone unnoticed 鈥� they have 颅partnered with some of the leading players in the biomedical field, such as Cellink. Axolotl was essentially created because of demand for its bioink, which it hopes to soon be licensed to sell.
Willerth said the business took off over the last year, despite the pandemic. The founders see plenty of potential for growth, including in making specialized inks for different printers.
The company is still working out of labs at the university, where it has an agreement to do production runs, but Willerth said there鈥檚 a chance it could eventually move into a dedicated production facility that would allow it to expand and diversify its product lines.
