Bioprinting stem cell therapies for ocular diseases

Conjunctival disorder is an ocular surface disease that can severely affect patients’ vision. Stem cell therapies using conjunctival stem cells (CjSCs) have become a promising approach to treat conjunctival disorder, yet researchers have struggled to develop effective methods to translate these therapies to the clinic. In this app note, we explore how the BIONOVA X 3D bioprinter can be utilized to develop stem cell based therapies to treat ocular diseases like conjunctiva.  

The BIONOVA X was utilized to produce CjSC-loaded hydrogel micro-constructs for injectable delivery. The bioprinted hydrogel micro-constructs can support CjSCs viability, stem cell phenotype, and differentiation potency into conjunctival goblet cells. These cell-laden hydrogel micro-constructs with tunable mechanical properties can be used in scalable dynamic suspension culture of CjSCs or as a vehicle to deliver CjSCs to the bulbar conjunctival epithelium via minimally invasive subconjunctival injection as stem cell therapies to treat ocular diseases.