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Engineering complex biological structures for regenerative medicine, in vitro tissue analysis, and pharmaceutical testing require new fabrication techniques that can place specific cells in specific target locations. Conventional cell seeding methods cannot achieve this level of spatial resolution. Biofabrication is a rapidly advancing field that uses a variety of delivery mechanisms to achieve the spatial resolution necessary to place cells, biomaterials, and bioactive macromolecules in specific target locations. One new technique within this field is bioprinting, which uses drop-on-demand delivery mechanisms to fabricate biological structures. This review focuses on drop-on-demand inkjet bioprinting and provides a primer for researchers seeking to enter the field.

Tissue engineering tools and technologies are critical for regenerative medicine and the translational research supporting development of cell-based therapies. 3D cell bioprinting is a relatively new engineering tool being used to design 3D cell constructs (rather than cell suspensions) for transplantation therapies. In this review, we describe a broad range of printing technologies now being used to deliver cells and biomaterials in preclinical studies. We focus on 3D cell bioprinting, in which the building blocks (or 'bioink') used in printing process are three-dimensional cell structures, that are placed by the bioprinter into precise architectures to generate small tissues or organs. 3D cell bioprinting is a flexible research tool for basic and translational stem cell biology.

Biofabrication for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine is a rapidly evolving field that incorporates bioprinting or bioassembly for the development of biologically functional products with structural organization using cells, bioactive molecules, and biomaterials. Bioprinting is a biofabrication technology that utilizes biomaterials, living cells, and supporting materials, called bioink, to generate three-dimensional tissue constructs. Bioprinting offers several advantages over traditional scaffolding and microengineering methods such as precise architecture control, high reproducibility, and versatility. The ideal bioink should possess appropriate structural, mechanical, gelation, rheological, chemical, biological, degradation, and biomimetic properties for the desired application of the final product. Several natural and synthetic bioinks have been developed and this review has focused on conductive nanomaterials that have been used in combination with hydrogel materials for bioink synthesis.