Stephanie Willerth

3D bioprinting human tissues

3D bioprinting can create living human tissues on demand based on specifications contained in a digital file. Such highly customized, physiologically-relevant 3D human tissue models can screen potential drug candidates as an alternative to expensive pre-clinical animal testing. The Willerth lab has developed a novel fibrin-based bioink called TissuePrint for bioprinting neural tissues derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which can become any cell type found in the body. Our group has bioprinted a range of functional human tissues for a variety of applications, including modeling neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and for screening potential cancer drugs. Here I will discuss the latest work from our group as well discuss our award-winning spin-off company - Axolotl Biosciences – that sells novel reagents for bioprinting human tissue models.

Speaker bio:  Dr. Willerth is a Full Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Victoria where she has dual appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Division of Medical Sciences. She also holds an appointment with the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia. She recently founded the start-up company - Axolotl Biosciences that sells high quality bioinks for bioprinting human tissue models. She is an active member of the steering committee of the B.C. Regenerative Medicine Initiative and the Stem Cell Network. She also serves as a staff scientist at Creative Destruction Lab. She served as the Acting Director of the Centre for Biomedical Research and the Biomedical Engineering undergraduate program at the University of Victoria from 2018-2021 and as the President of Canadian Biomaterials Society from 2018-2019. She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars and Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. awarded her their Teaching Award of Excellence in 2021.