TY - THES A1 - Seidenberg, Viola T1 - Investigation and validation of a drop-on demand bioprinting process for biofabrication of hMSC and HUVEC laden fibrin structures N2 - 3D bioprinting is an emerging field of tissue engineering that has great potential to change the picture in personalized medicine and pharmaceutical research. But there is still a long way to go until bioprinting processes become commercially realizable. In this work, a newly developed bioprinting process for the production of hMSC and HUVEC laden fibrin structures, using a custom-built microvalve-based bioprinter, was investigated. The gelation behaviour of fibrin, as well as the droplet deposition process were analysed in detail in order to optimize the printing process. Furthermore, a strategy was developed to print drops of a gelatin agarose mixture into consecutive layers of fibrin which showed to improve the mechanical stability of the printed constructs and to promote cell growth in culture for at least fourteen days. Additionally, endothelial cells were found to develop vascular structures in the cultured samples which is crucial for the construction of bigger functional engineered tissues. KW - 3D bioprinting KW - Tissue Engineering Y1 - 2018 ER -