Axolotl Biosciences Brings Biotech to the Forefront at Formnext 2024 – 3DPrint.com

Formnext 2024 is called the world’s main commerce truthful for industrial 3D printing, with towering machines and manufacturing giants filling its halls. Amid this industrial frenzy, Axolotl Biosciences, a life sciences firm specializing in bioinks for tissue engineering, has carved out a novel house, showcasing its work and proving that biotechnology can thrive on a stage usually dominated by hardware-heavy gamers.

Axolotl Co-founder and CEO Stephanie Willerth attended Formnext for the primary time, the place she spoke with 3DPrint.com in regards to the firm and its upcoming initiatives.

At this yr’s Formnext, Willerth had pitching classes, reside demonstrations, and networking alternatives, together with a livestream with YouTube influencer 3D Printing Nerd. This highlight highlighted Axolotl’s work and confirmed the rising curiosity in bioprinting exterior the scientific group. The corporate additionally received Formnext’s Startup Award, which is supported by AM Ventures, which comes with a €5,000 prize.

Stephanie Willerth with 3D Printing Nerd at Formnext 2024. Snapshot courtesy of 3D Printing Nerd.

In a Sea of Printers

Whereas Formnext primarily highlights industrial functions, Axolotl Biosciences is considered one of solely a handful of life sciences corporations on the occasion. This distinction positions Axolotl as a pioneer bridging biotechnology and additive manufacturing. “There’s plenty of curiosity,” Willerth stated. “Individuals come as much as me and say, ‘Wait, you possibly can print tissues?’ And I inform them, ‘Sure, that’s precisely what we do.’”

Axolotl’s sales space might not function massive printers or huge installations, however that is typical for all times sciences, the place precision issues greater than scale. As a substitute, it’s crammed with impactful instruments and merchandise. Amongst them are syringes of bioinks like TissuePrint, their flagship product, which helps numerous cell strains and permits the creation of neural and different human tissue fashions. These bioinks will not be simply scientifically superior—they’re accessible. Priced at roughly $100 per milliliter, they steadiness affordability and excessive efficiency regardless of rising provide chain prices.

At Formnext, Axolotl showcased its TissuePrint bioink whereas offering updates on two extremely anticipated merchandise in its pipeline. The primary, BrainPrint Bioink, is particularly designed for printing mind tissue fashions and incorporates Axolotl’s patented drug-releasing particle expertise. This product is at the moment awaiting funding approval via a Canadian authorities procurement course of, which might make the federal government its first buyer.

Relying on the end result, BrainPrint is anticipated to launch in late 2024 or early 2025. The second product, a Cardiac Tissue Bioink, is tailor-made for 3D printing coronary heart tissue and represents the corporate’s concentrate on creating organ-specific bioinks. Whereas nonetheless in growth, it marks one other step ahead in Axolotl’s contributions to superior tissue engineering.

A confocal picture of considered one of Axolotl’s bioprinted brains utilizing its bioink. Picture courtesy of Axolotl Biosciences by way of Twitter.

Willerth additionally revealed that Axolotl has been conducting beta checks with potential clients and collaborating on superior 3D printed tissue fashions to imitate human illnesses. Notably, Axolotl lately revealed a 3D printed Alzheimer’s tissue mannequin, with a Parkinson’s mannequin in growth. These tissue fashions are key for drug screening and illness analysis, offering pharmaceutical corporations with dependable, human-relevant instruments to check new therapies with out counting on animal testing.

Scaling Up

Collaboration is a cornerstone of Axolotl’s technique. One in all its most necessary partnerships has been with StarFish Medical, supported by Subsequent Era Manufacturing Canada (NGen) funding. Collectively, they scaled up the manufacturing of Axolotl’s drug-releasing particles, a important element of the corporate’s BrainPrint bioink. This challenge, accomplished in 2023, centered on implementing commercial-scale microfluidic processes for fabricating drug-releasing microspheres, enhancing the bioink’s software for producing human mind tissue fashions.

Axolotl has additionally collaborated with Side Biosystems, a Vancouver-based bioprinting firm, to develop useful neural tissue fashions from human stem cells. This partnership earned recognition via the College of Victoria‘s REACH Award for Excellence in Analysis Partnerships in 2020.

Axolotl at Formnext 2024. Picture courtesy of Axolotl Biosciences.

The corporate itself is a spin-off from Willerth’s analysis group on the College of Victoria, the place she continues to function a professor of mechanical engineering. Willerth’s tutorial experience in tissue engineering and regenerative drugs offers the scientific basis for Axolotl’s progressive work. Her analysis focuses on creating bioactive scaffolds for steering stem cell differentiation, combining bodily and chemical cues to attain exact outcomes.

One in all her key contributions has been the creation of scaffolds for managed drug launch, enabling the long-term supply of chemical indicators to information the differentiation of stem cells into neural tissues. These breakthroughs can doubtlessly deal with important organic challenges, equivalent to creating engineered tissues for treating illnesses like Parkinson’s or repairing spinal wire accidents to revive misplaced perform.

On the Willerth Lab, her staff makes use of next-generation sequencing to investigate transcription patterns in differentiating stem cells, uncovering the mechanisms that drive these transformations. This meticulous strategy permits them to engineer neural tissue from pluripotent stem cell strains below tightly regulated circumstances, aiming to supply tissues appropriate for transplantation. These similar ideas kind the spine of Axolotl’s work, bridging tutorial analysis with industrial functions to create merchandise that meet the wants of researchers and clinicians alike.

3D printed tissue at Axolotl. Picture courtesy of Axolotl Biosciences.

From Lab to Sales space

Trying forward, Willerth envisions bioprinting turning into extra integral to illness modeling and pharmaceutical growth. “We’re seeing a shift,” she defined. “Firms like Side Biosystems are conducting long-term preclinical research, and we intention to broaden our drug screening instruments with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s fashions.”

Axolotl’s expertise additionally serves the stem cell group, offering ready-to-use bioinks for researchers who might not have materials science experience. “Our objective is to make it straightforward for scientists,” Willerth stated.

With solely a small staff and a single product at the moment available on the market, Axolotl is scaling rapidly. The corporate is actively fundraising, getting ready for its first enterprise capital funding to transition operations off-campus, rent senior executives, and allow co-founder Laila Abelseth to hitch full-time. This funding may even help bringing their second and third merchandise to market. Willerth famous, “We’re additionally planning to start out promoting within the U.S. quickly, which is an enormous step for us after specializing in Canada.”

Axolotl goes to Formnext for the primary time. Picture courtesy of Axolotl Biosciences.

With ongoing work in neural, cardiac, and mind tissue, Axolotl demonstrates the huge potential of bioprinting to revolutionize healthcare. With an bold roadmap and a concentrate on fixing real-world issues, Axolotl is a key addition to Formnext.