UBCO researchers create 3D-printed living lung tissue

UBCO develops 3D tissue

Photo: UBCO

Dr. Emmanuel Osei has developed a way to 3D print tissue that resembles a living lung. This work could change how lung disease is studied and improve health options for those living with lung disease.

The University of British Columbia Okanagan has made strides in developing a way to 3D print tissue that resembles a living lung.

The research has been published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering, in collaboration with Mitacs and supported by the Providence Health Care. The study is a step toward assessing aspects of lung diseases such as scarring and inflammation, and may lead to future cures for various illnesses.

This work could change how lung disease is studied and improve health options for those living with lung disease.

Dr. Emmanuel Osei, assistant professor in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, says the model produces tissue that closely resembles the complexity of a human lung, enabling improved testing of respiratory diseases and drug development.

“To conduct our research and the testing that’s required—where we’re studying the mechanisms of complex lung diseases to eventually find new drug targets—we need to be able to make models that are comparable to human tissues.”

Dr. Osei says many forms of lung disease currently have no cure, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cancer. Being able to establish models that allow for testing is a significant advancement in respiratory disease research and drug development.

“Our goal was to create a more physiologically relevant in vitro model of the human airway,” says Dr. Osei. “By integrating vascular components, we can better simulate the lung environment, which is crucial for studying diseases and testing therapeutics.”

Dr. Osei explains that when someone has lung cancer, a surgeon—with the patient’s consent—can remove the cancerous section along with some normal lung tissue and provide these samples to researchers.

“However, a researcher has no control over how much tissue they will receive,” he explains. “They might get a small piece of tissue which they bring to the lab and add various chemicals for testing. Now, with 3D bioprinting, we can isolate cells from these donated tissues and potentially recreate additional tissue and test samples to conduct research in our labs and not rely on or wait for contributed tissues.”

The paper details tests, including exposing the bio-printed 3D model to cigarette smoke extract, allowing the researchers to observe increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines, or markers of inflammatory responses to nicotine in lung tissue.