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Researchers have presented an additive manufacturing process that enables the production of micrometer-scale structures directly inside living cells. The results were published in the scientific journal Advanced Materials and show that 3D printing no longer has to be limited to external substrates or artificial environments. Instead, the cell itself becomes the manufacturing space for complex microstructures.
The process is based on injecting a biocompatible, light-sensitive photoresist into a living cell. A focused laser is then used to locally polymerize the material. In this way, defined structures with submicrometer resolution are created, including geometric patterns, encoded shapes, and freely modeled objects. Crucially, the cell survives the process and retains its fundamental biological functions. Observations show that treated cells remain metabolically active and continue to divide, with the generated structure being passed on to one of the daughter cells.
Technically noteworthy is the combination of precise laser addressing and the adaptation of the photoresist to the intracellular environment. Conventional 3D printing processes quickly reach their limits in biological systems, for example due to toxic materials or thermal stress. The approach presented here circumvents these problems by operating at low energy levels and using materials that do not immediately compromise cell viability.
“Our method provides a new tool to manipulate living cells from the inside, enabling a new approach to studying their mechanical and biological responses,” said co-author Maruša Mur, Ph.D., of the Jožef Stefan Institute, in Slovenia.
The approach is still at an experimental stage. Nevertheless, the work suggests that 3D printing is increasingly moving toward hybrid applications between engineering and biology, thereby providing new tools for cell research and biomedicine.
