Feb 5, 2018 | By Tess

BIOLIFE4D, a medical tech firm specializing in 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering, is collaborating with Northwestern University through a recently signed “Laboratory Service Agreement” (LSA). Through the partnership, Chicago-based BIOLIFE4D will be given access to Northwestern’s state-of-the-art research facilities and resources.

By leveraging the university’s academic and research facilities (including its imaging lab), BIOLIFE4D is aiming to accelerate the development of its 3D bioprinting technology. Its ultimate goal is to create a transplantable human heart using its bioprinting system.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to utilize laboratory resources from the prestigious Northwestern University, where such groundbreaking scientific work has occurred. The importance of these resources to a pioneering biotech company really cannot be understated,” commented Steven Morris, CEO of BIOLIFE4D.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our company as we continue to develop our technology,” he added. “Not only will it provide us access to world-class labs, but it also enables us to utilize the most advanced, state-of-the-art equipment, staff, and facilities at these leading research centers. We want to change the world and are now better suited to do so.”

The partnership comes just days after BIOLIFE4D announced it would be launching a Regulation A+ (Mini-IPO) in response to its Form 1-A validation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Regulation A+ offering gives BIOLIFE4D the opportunity to sell up to five million shares of its securities to the public at $10 per share (with a minimum investment of 25 shares). The goal of the offering is, once again, to bolster and accelerate the company’s development of 3D bioprinted tissues and organs.

Notably, BIOLIFE4D says that investors who buy more than $100,000 in shares will be given the opportunity to actually witness the first heart transplant using a BIOLIFE4D bioprinted heart. If I had that kind of money, I’d be signing up.

The company’s bioprinting process consists of generating a 3D model of a patient’s heart based on an MRI scan, which can be digitally reproduced in the same shape and size. Then, using cells derived from the patient’s blood and stem cell research, BIOLIFE4D says it plans to “reprogram” the blood cells and convert them into heart cells.

The new (and patient-specific) heart cells will then be added to a special bioink material which is fed into the bioprinter. Once the organ has been built up using the bioink, the 3D printed heart can be matured in a bioreactor until the transplantation.

While it sounds simple enough, BIOLIFE4D still has some distance to go before it implants its first 3D printed heart. It is hopeful that both its partnership with Northwestern University and its Regulation A+ offering will help it achieve that goal.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printer Company

 

 

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