A 3D bioprinter that can create transplantable organs from patients' own cells

J-STORIES - Many startup founders had a special passion during their student years, and Shizuka Akieda was no exception. Long before becoming CEO of Cyfuse, a Japanese biotech company at the forefront of regenerative and cellular medicine, she was crazy about soccer.

In fact, she describes how in high school she became fascinated by the benzene ring, which has a structure of regular hexagons, because it looked like a soccer ball. And from there she became absorbed in chemistry research.

She laughs as she remembers this “ulterior motive” for her first interest in chemistry. While in high school in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, and later at university, Akieda was sufficiently good at soccer to represent her country. But that was before the days of Nadeshiko Japan, the nation’s highly popular women’s national team, and she didn’t think she could make a career as a professional player.

As a postgraduate student researching osteosarcoma, a common type of bone cancer, she developed a strong desire to help children who faced losing their legs. And it was around this time that she encountered the Kenzan bioprinting method, a technique to regenerate organs that had been developed in Japan, and which was being worked on by a team at Kyushu University’s Faculty of Medicine.

The Kenzan method involves stacking tissue such as blood vessels or nerve cells onto a base of close-packed 0.2 mm diameter needles, similar in appearance to a “kenzan” (pin holder) used to stand flowers in Japanese flower arranging. This tissue can then be used in regenerative medicine. It is so painstaking a method that Akieda says it is close to craftsmanship and perhaps particularly suited to the Japanese character.

After participating in the research and development of the Kenzan method, Akieda went on to commercialize it with her team and take the helm of Cyfuse.

But 15 years ago, 3D printers did not yet exist.

“I would spend about 20 hours placing cells on the kenzan by hand, all in silence. Yet it was still fun to do,” she recalls.

The introduction of 3D printers has made this process around 40 times more efficient and the Kenzan method looks to soon become a practical option within regenerative medicine. Currently, blood vessels and nerve cells up to 3 cm in length can be created in a few hours. Such tissue made with the technology has already been transplanted into at least 10 patients during clinical trials in Japan.

As Akieda explains, the Kenzan method’s biggest advantage is how it can create tissues and organs not just for experiments and research, but also to actually be transplanted into patients.

“Bioprinters from other companies always contain artificial materials such as gel or collagen,” she says. “But ours is the only one that builds using just cells.”

She points out that if gels or other materials are mixed in to form an organ, when that organ is transplanted the temperature of the body causes it to melt and it will not succeed.

That is not the case for organs created through the Kenzan method, which can also be sutured. Akieda believes that her company’s device is the only way to make properly transplantable organs at present.

There are about 50 companies across the world working on 3D bioprinters to create cellular tissue. But of these only around 10 have products on sale, one of which is Cyfuse. To date, the company has sold about 30 bioprinters to clients in Japan and the U.S. -- mostly medical institutions conducting collaborative research on organ creation in clinical settings.

According to a report recently published by MarketsandMarkets Research, the global 3D bioprinting market is estimated to be worth $1.3 billion as of 2024 and is expected to reach $2.4 billion by 2029. It is expected to grow at an average annual rate of about 13% between 2024 and 2029.

As during her student days representing her country at soccer, Akieda is getting ready to take on the world. But this time it is in the field of regenerative medicine. She has commenced joint research with leading medical institutions at universities across the U.S., including Stanford and Johns Hopkins. Meanwhile, Cyfuse is preparing for full entry into the U.S. and European markets.

“One advantage of this technology is that patients themselves could create tissues and organs from their own cells for transplantation into their own bodies,” says Akieda. “At the same time, we are aiming to enter the U.S. market so that we can develop technology that makes it possible to create tissues of the right size to match organs in patients’ bodies.”

Despite the promise of 3D bioprinter technology, Akieda does not believe it will give humanity immortality or completely eliminate disease and suffering.

“We aren’t doctors, but we would like to add a new way to treat patients,” she says. “There is surgery and there are drugs. Regenerative medicine is one of those methods, and it’s a method we want patients to be able to choose, whether it is using their own cells or someone else’s.”

Akieda hopes the technology could be available to patients as early as 2030. And considering the pace of R&D in this field across the world, it could be even sooner.

As a student she took on the world in soccer, but now she is aiming for an even greater goal. And the final whistle is yet to blow.

Translation by Tony McNicol

Top photo by Cyfuse

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