Interview with Biogelx about its bioinks and the future of bioprinting

Biogelx is a spin-out from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, engaged in the development and production of synthetic bioinks for 3D cell cultures and bioprinting applications. When we talk about this sector and its progress, we often talk about the creation of organs, but we must keep in mind that there remains much progress before we can reach this goal. This is one of the reasons why Biogelx is interested in short and medium-term bioprinting objectives and opportunities, which are just as important as 3D printing organs. The startup is therefore looking to develop its synthetic bioinks and is partly focusing on drug development, seeking to improve testing processes and reducing costs. We had the opportunity to speak with the Managing Director, Mitch Scanlan, to learn more about Biogelx’s ambitions and market vision.

3DN: Can you present yourself and your link with 3D printing?

Mitch Scalan

Born as a spin-out of the University of Strathclyde, Biogelx is pioneering the development of tunable synthetic materials for 3D cell culture and 3D bioprinting applications. In its early years, the company developed synthetic peptide hydrogels for 3D cell culture applications. The unique chemical and physical tunability of these scaffolds were quickly recognised on the market since they are capable of replicating the characteristics of specific tissues so that the cells experience and interact with a realistic 3D environment. Furthermore, these hydrogels do not suffer from the batch-to-batch variation experienced with natural hydrogels; thus, they provide a versatile and reproducible platform for 3D cell culture applications.

In parallel with the emergence of the 3D cell culture market, we have seen an additional market materialise for 3D bioprinting where there is a requirement for high throughput or increased precision. Since Biogelx has already established a range of products to support 3D cell culture, we decided to explore the potential of our core synthetic peptide hydrogel technology as a synthetic bioink for 3D bioprinting applications. Following an 18-month development programme funded by a SMART programme awarded by Scottish Enterprise we have designed a range of novel synthetic bioink which we are commercialising under a product family called Biogelx™-INK.