3DBS: 3D bioprinted human tissues and membranes for regenerative medicine
The Campinas-based startup has developed its own biofabrication and tissue engineering technologies with support from FAPESP; these solutions will be presented at Europe’s largest innovation fair in Paris.
image: 3DBS researchers are developing artificial skin, intestinal and liver barrier models, as well as membranes for bone and wound regeneration
Credit: Phelipe Janning/Agência FAPESP
In the laboratories of 3D Biotechnology Solutions (3DBS), a startup incubated at the Mandic Hub in Campinas, São Paulo state, Brazil, solutions are being developed for the biofabrication of human and animal tissues. These solutions have the potential to significantly impact the treatment of various medical conditions.
The company’s researchers are using their own 3D bioprinting and electrospinning technologies to create artificial skin, intestinal and liver barrier models, as well as membranes for bone and wound regeneration. Their goal is to reduce the use of animals in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and food industries and, eventually, provide living human tissues that function like native ones.
“Today we work in the field of biofabrication and tissue engineering, through which we reconstruct human and animal tissues using technologies that have come from engineering,” Ana Luiza Millás, the company’s CEO and one of its founders, told Agência FAPESP.
Supported by FAPESP’s Innovative Research in Small Businesses program (PIPE), 3DBS will take part in a lecture session on health innovation at FAPESP Week France, from June 10th to 12th in Toulouse. And the Foundation invited it to be one of ten companies presenting at the University of São Paulo (USP) stand at the international VivaTech fair, one of the largest technology and startup events in Europe, which will take place between June 11th and 14th in Paris.
The 2025 edition of VivaTech will focus on the new frontiers of technological innovation from economic, geopolitical, social, and environmental perspectives. Last year, 165,000 people visited the various stands at the fair.
“It’s very interesting for us to take part in an event like this because of the visibility it’ll give us and the opportunity to present our solutions to investors. Our goal is to attract investors who, in addition to financial resources, bring knowledge and allow us to expand our product distribution and research collaboration networks,” says Pedro Massaguer, business director and co-founder of 3DBS.
The company began operating in 2017, supplying biofabrication equipment such as 3D bioprinters and electrospinning machines. These machines are used to produce biomaterials and reconstructed tissues from living cells, polymers, and other biocompatible materials.
The company has produced more than 200 pieces of equipment that are already spread throughout Brazil, in universities, research institutions, companies, and science and technology startups. They are also being marketed in other countries. “The equipment is already at a university in Germany, at the Higher Institute of Agronomy in Lisbon [Portugal], and at Concepción University in Chile, as well as already being certified for sale on the European market,” says Massaguer.
Biofabrication of tissues and membranes
The company develops its own products alongside the development of 3D bioprinters and electrospinning equipment, often in partnership with universities, research institutes, and companies.
The first products were in vitro models that simulate skin, the intestinal barrier, and small organs, such as liver spheroids. These models were created using 3D bioprinting to replace or reduce the use of animals in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food industries.
More recently, the company has started producing bone regeneration membranes using electrospinning techniques, mainly for dental use and wound regeneration for veterinary use. “These membranes don’t use cells and will be our first regenerative medicine solutions. Their development is at the pre-clinical stage, undergoing animal testing, with a view to clinical application in the near future,” says Millás.
The membranes are produced using a combination of natural and synthetic polymers. They act as scaffolds or supports on which cells can grow to form tissue. The porous membranes mimic human extracellular matrices and act as a “cement” for cells to form tissues, like a brick wall, compares Millás.
“Often, when tissue is damaged or part of it is lost, there’s no possibility of it regenerating spontaneously. In this sense, these membranes serve as cellular supports to allow the tissue of the human or animal body to grow on and inside them, be absorbed over time, and form a new regenerated tissue,” explains the researcher.
According to Millás, one of the advantages of combining synthetic and natural polymers to produce the membranes is the synergistic effect of the materials on the adaptation and growth of damaged tissue to which they will be grafted.
In the researcher’s opinion, there are still a number of technological and regulatory barriers to be overcome in order to enable the production of more complex human organs and tissues through bioprinting.
“Today, using bioprinting technology, we can produce small pieces of skin, bone, heart tissue, or cartilage, for example. There’s a long way to go, always in conversation with health regulatory agencies, because all products that will be applied to animals or humans need to be safe and effective. And this also raises challenging questions,” he says.