Skip to main content

Microvascular channel bioprinter shutoff valve

Create an automatic valve to seamlessly shut off or switch between KSM outputs, and therefore multiple hydrogel resolutions, ideally programmed so as to not need an operator.

Project Overview

On any given day, over 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a life saving organ donation [1], [2]. The need for organs far exceeds the amount of organs donated per year. Because of this, many researchers are looking towards tissue engineering to fill the demand for transplants, as well as tailor them to a patient’s specific needs. One of these methods is known as “bioprinting,” which is the use of viable cells, biomaterials, or biomolecules in a 3D printer [3].
Within bioprinting there exist several methods, one such is “chaotic printing.” Chaotic printing is a bioprinting strategy utilizing a kenics static mixer (KSM) to produce alternating channels of high resolution filament (less than 10 μm in width). These KSMs can be combined with a Continuously Extruded Variable Internal Channeling, or CEVIC, device to extrude these high resolution hydrogels into sheets while maintaining the alternating channel structure of chaotic printing. It should be noted that both the KSM and CEVIC devices are patent-pending [3].
Currently, the CEVIC devices can autonomously print hydrogel sheets of one resolution. If multiple resolutions from multiple KSMs are needed, the inputs must be manually changed. This takes time for the researcher and does not allow for a seamless transition between hydrogel channel resolutions. Therefore, the purpose of this project and the function of the device is to be an automatic valve to seamlessly shut off or switch between KSM outputs, and therefore hydrogel resolutions, ideally programmed so as to not need an operator.


[1] “Organ Donation Statistics | organdonor.gov.” Accessed: Sep. 18, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/organ-donation-statistics
[2] CDC, “About Transplant Safety,” Transplant Safety. Accessed: Sep. 18, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/transplant-safety/about/index.html
[3] Ryan Hooper, Caleb Cummings, Anna Beck, Javier Vazquez-Armendariz, Ciro Rodriguez, and David Dean, “Sheet-based extrusion bioprinting: a new multi-material paradigm providing mid-extrusion micropatterning control for microvascular applications,” Biofabrication, vol. 16, no. 2, p. 025032, Mar. 2024, doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1758-5090/ad30c8.

Team Picture

Team Photo: (left to right) Stephanie Vigmond, Dominique Gooden, Ana Toscano, Mahathi Karthikeyan, Sophia Speece
Team Photo: (left to right) Stephanie Vigmond, Dominique Gooden, Ana Toscano, Mahathi Karthikeyan, Sophia Speece

Files

Progress Reports

Contact Information

Team Members

Advisor and Client

Back to Top