Biofabrication: an integrated bioengineering approach for the automated fabrication of biological structures for clinical and research applications

Expression of the "third industrial revolution", biofabrication technologies have undergone a surprising development, rapidly attracting the interest of the scientific, industrial and clinical communities. They allow the additive production of human tissues and organs from cell spheroids, or from biological inks containing cells and biomaterials, following a digital model. The ultimate goal is to produce human organs and tissues that are immunocompatible and "specific" for the patients. Alternatively, biofabrication technologies could reproduce entire organs, human tissues, or their parts for use in preclinical experimentation of new therapies and drugs. Achieving significant advances in biofabrication requires collaboration among scientists with complementary skills, such as bioengineers with expertise in biomaterial design, rapid prototyping, robotics, bioinformatics, computational modeling, biological image analysis, nanotechnology, etc. This volume collects the contributions of 13 Italian experienced bioengineers, 6 eminent international scientists and 4 industrial leaders, participating in the XL Annual School of Bioengineering. By presenting an interdisciplinary research area, such as biofabrication, the XL Annual School of Bioengineering becomes an opportunity to celebrate the 40 years of activity of the National Bioengineering Group (GNB), highlighting the synergy of skills present in the panorama of the Italian Bioengineering community. GNB, developed from the solid foundations laid by its founders, boasts highly talented scientists and continuous attention on training and inspiring the new generations of researchers.