Russia Leads the Way
Russia has become the first country globally to perform a bioprinting operation directly on a patient. The groundbreaking procedure took place at the N.N. Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow, in collaboration with experts from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the National University of Science and Technology MISIS. A bioprinter featuring a robotic arm, bioprinting system, and computer vision was utilized in the operation. Institute Director Fedor Senatov shared details of the surgery and discussed the future prospects of Russian 3D bioprinting.
Technically, the operation unfolded as follows: the patient had a substantial wound in the shoulder and scapula area. The surgeon extracted cells from the patient’s own bone marrow, mixed them with a collagen-based hydrogel to support tissue regeneration. The resulting substance, or “bio-ink,” was placed in a syringe integrated into the bioprinter, mounted on a robotic manipulator.
The main advantage of this technology lies in the soft tissue scanning system, which takes into account the patient’s breathing and slight body movements. The robot conducted the wound scanning, constructed a 3D model, calculated the trajectory for delivering the biopolymer, and executed the bioprinting process without human intervention.
After verification, the robot automatically “printed” the wound surface, adapting to the patient’s specific characteristics.
Photo: NUST MISIS Press Office