A new 20-page guide outlining the essential practices for bioink use, from preparation to post-processing, has been revealed by ASTM International.
Titled ‘F3659 — Standard Guide for Bioinks Used in Bioprinting’, this standard document has been organised according to a typical bioprinting operational workflow. It has three main sections: pre-printing considerations, printing considerations and post-processing considerations.
Developed over six years, this document sets a new foundational standard to guide the process of bioprinting tissue-engineered medical products (TEMPs), such as implants, grafts, and tissue constructs. These solutions range from skin grafts for burn recovery to multi-layered constructs to replace damaged tissues in critical areas like the heart or liver.
This new standard zeroes in on extrusion bioprinting. It describes the usage of bioinks and biomaterial inks with unique fluidic properties, essential for constructing TEMPs with or without encapsulated cells.
It also acknowledges the variety of other bioprinting techniques such as electrospinning, electrospray, droplet-based, inkjet-based, and laser-assisted bioprinting.
Get the copy of the full standard here.