Cyfuse Biomedical is aiming to take its 3-D bioprinting technology to researchers around the world with its infusion of ¥1.4 billion ($12 million). This brings the total financing for this Japanese startup that was founded in 2010 to $16.5 million. Its bioprinter can be used to create tissue structures including cartilage and subchondral bone, tubular tissues such as blood vessels, digestive and urinary organs, and miniature livers.
The startup first shipped its Regenova bio 3-D printer to Japanese universities in 2013. But now it’s ready to start overseas sale of it for research purposes, as well as to continue development of further applications of its tissue engineering technology. The company is based on the research of Dr. Koichi Nakayama of Saga University at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Kyushu University.
His 3-D printing method relies upon the culturing of cellular aggregates called spheroids on fine needle arrays that allow the adjacent spheroids to form a connected, macroscopic structure over time without the use of collagen or hydrogel. There are several tens of thousands of cells per spheroid. Culturing connected cellular spheroids are placed in a bioreactor for days or weeks to promote the aggregation of cells to create 3-D tissue.
