Allevi was founded in 2014 to develop 3D printing, but they took this technology in an unusual direction.  3D bioprinting is used by researchers to model disease, create custom 3D tissue, and study the body outside of the body with improved control and repeatability.  Bioprinting is being used in the fields of tissue engineering, bioengineering, and materials science.  This technology also helps with pharmaceutical development by allowing drugs to be tested faster, at a lower cost, and with more accurate results than animal testing.  It is also being used to make biomedical devices such as sugar stents that help surgeons join veins and systems for improved drug delivery.

The bioprinters work similarly to other 3D printers, but they use cells and other biocompatible materials known as bioinks instead of plastic.  The living cells can be mixed into the bioinks or seeded in after the print is finished.  The 3D geometry the bioprinters create is more similar to a natural biological system than any other model researchers have been using.  The models used can come from CT or CAT scans or a CAD program which allows for very accurate models, and researchers can model any geometry they need.  Allevi provides the software necessary to take the model and print on with the bioprinter which makes it easy to use.

There are over 110,000 people on the organ transplant waiting list in the US.  Many others experience chronic problems as a result of the long term damaging effects of immunosuppression Allevi’s goal is to develop bioprinting technology that will allow them to 3D organs to solve this problem.  Bioprinting might also be able to use a patient’s cells to 3D print skin and bone grafts.