Conclusion
3D printing has been a transformative fabrication technology for many
sectors, however has not yet experienced widespread adoption for
bioprocessing purposes in part due to the inherent complexities
associated with medicines manufacturing. Whilst this approach still
requires development and maturation before manufacturing scale operation
can be realized, the ability to produce materials with chemical and
physical properties specifically tailored to a product of interest
presents several bioprocessing opportunities. Recent emergence of a
diverse field of therapeutic modalities such as viral vectors and lipid
nanoparticles, which have increased complexities and size when compared
to established therapeutic proteins to conventional monoclonal
antibodies for bioprocessing, may benefit from novel structures.
Through integrating 3D imaging with 3D printing then structure across
multiple length scales can be directly related to function and
performance. Structural data from X-ray CT has been found to greatly
enhance quantitative information available to inform improvements to the
next generation of bioseparations structure prototypes.
Acknowledgements
Thomas Johnson and Daniel Bracewell acknowledge the UCL-Pall Biotech
Centre of Excellence, established in 2018. Paul Shearing acknowledges
support from the Royal Academy of Engineering. This work was supported
by the EPSRC National Research Facility for Lab X-ray CT (NXCT).
Mariachiara Conti acknowledges the support from Fujifilm Diosynth
Biotechnologies UK, the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering
(SRPe-IDP/03) and the IBioIC “Ready for Industry” PhD training
programme, funded by the Scottish Funding Council under their Innovation
Centre programme.