Lithoz ISS Techshot
Ceramic fluid manifolds additively manufactured by Lithoz for a tissue conditioning system are being tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The manifolds were 3D printed on a CeraFab machine in collaboration with Techshot - whose BioFabrication Facility (BFF) has been installed on the ISS - and have been designed to provide nutrients to living materials printed in space by BFF. Testing of the ceramic 3D printed manifolds is focusing on the biocompatibility, precision, durability and overall fluid flow properties.
Lithoz’s manifolds were installed back in November and are expected to replace polymer prototype versions of the components, which have already been tested aboard the ISS, because of their superior biocompatibility. Techshot engineers were also able to interface larger bio-structures with the ceramic manifolds, which have been highlighted as an ‘ideal use case’ of ceramic additive manufacturing.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure working with Lithoz,” commented Techshot Senior Scientist, Dr Carlos Chang. “Their expertise in ceramic processing really made these parts happen.”
“The success of ceramic additive manufacturing depends on working together with design, materials and printing,” added Lithoz Vice President Shawn Allan. “Design for ceramic additive manufacturing principles were used along with print parameter control to achieve Techshot’s complex fluid-handling design with the confidence needed to use the components on ISS.”
The BFF is the first printing system capable of manufacturing human tissue in space’s microgravity conditions. It was installed aboard the ISS in July 2019 as part of a long-term mission to develop and validate the printing of human organs in space. The first phase of this mission involves test prints of cardiac-like tissue of increasing thicknesses and is set to last up to two years. Then, heart patches will be manufactured and evaluated on ground, before eventually moving to the printing of whole organs which will occur from 2025 at the earliest. Currently still in the early stages of phase one, the latest round of bioprinting in December was said to yield larger biological constructs than the first BFF attempts in July. Conditioned human tissues are expected to return to Earth in the next few months.
