Brain on a bench top

Tissue grafting and organ transplantation are common techniques in modern medicine, but suffer from the widely-reported limitations of constrained supply and the risk of rejection, necessitating a lifetime of immunosuppressant medication [1]. The field of tissue engineering has advanced markedly over the last decade, and engineered tissues are under development for both regenerative medicine applications as well as the formation of accurate in vitro models for the study of fundamental tissue behaviours, disease states and drug discovery. Both biological and synthetic materials have been formed into cell-supporting tissue scaffolds [2,3]. In broad terms, biological materials and particularly extracellular matrix (ECM) components offer superior cell interaction properties, but are challenging to process [4]. Synthetic materials are readily processed, but may lack specific or necessary cell interaction motifs. The fabrication of truly biomimetic regenerative scaffolds is an incredibly complex challenge, one that requires an integrated approach to both biomaterials and biofabrication technologies [5].