Bioprinted blood vessels could speed testing of treatments for cancer

Engineers apply new tech to model deadly brain tumors

Originally published by Michael Miller on September 25, 2024


Glioblastoma is a brain cancer with very poor survival outcomes.
Most drugs can’t cross the blood-brain barrier, which means that unlike other cancers, there just aren’t that many therapies available for brain tumors.

But a cutting-edge technology developed at the University of Cincinnati aims to change that. Researchers are using 3D bioprinting to create artificial blood vessels that can be used to test new custom-tailored drugs and study why glioblastoma is so resilient.

“Our goal is to develop models that can be used to get new insights into the mechanism that promotes tumor regeneration and drug resistance enabling testing of new therapeutics,” said Riccardo Barrile, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.


The study was published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.


UC doctoral student Sirjana Pun uses a 3D printer to create bioprinted devices that mimic blood vessels in Riccardo Barrile's biomedical engineering lab. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

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