3D Bioprinting of Bone Organoids

Understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms and structural changes that occur during bone remodelling are crucial for the development of treatments for bone diseases. The current gold standard for the study of pathological bone remodelling involves the use of animal models. While extremely valuable, the generation of transgenic animals remains a costly and inefficient process, which is ultimately not representative of human bone pathophysiology. Efforts to overcome the limitations of animal models have led to the emergence of in vitro human bone models. While current in vitro human bone models provide insights into the altered metabolism of collagenous and non-collagenous ECM proteins, models are limited to single cell types cultured in a two-dimensional environment. Such models do not account for the effects of the surrounding three-dimensional matrix and complex interactions between multiple cell types that occur during bone remodelling.  

With this project we work towards the creation of personalized and clinically relevant bone organoids by 3D-bioprinting patient-derived bone cells. With these approaches we aim to control the spatial deposition of bone cells to closely resemble human bone biology and thus gain a deeper understanding of human bone pathophysiology. By incorporating patient cells from healthy or diseased cohorts we aim to create in vitro bone organoids which will serve as platform to study treatments on a personalized level.

Close collaborations with the Children’s Hospital Zurich enable a direct feedback loop between all project members including orthopaedic surgeons, clinicians and researchers.