The competitive advantage of this project lies in its plant-based hydrogel bioink, which offers excellent printability, cost-effectiveness, sustainability, biocompatibility, and durability, with the flexibility to be customised for specific product needs and applications. Unlike existing animal-based alternatives, it provides an ethical and eco-friendly option suitable for diverse users.

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3D bioprinting offers great potential for producing precise and customised biological constructs using suitable bioinks. However, most commercially available bioinks are expensive and derived from animal-based materials, making them unsuitable for users with ethical, cultural, or dietary restrictions (such as halal, kosher, or vegan). There is a clear need for a more affordable, plant-based alternative that provides good printability, biocompatibility, and biodegradability, making it suitable for applications in tissue engineering and other industries requiring precise, cell-supportive designs.

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The formulated hydrogel bioink is printed using a customised bioprinter to produce constructs based on specific designs. These bioprinted structures can then be seeded with suitable cells, such as chondrocytes for knee cartilage implants or cancer cells for drug screening applications. The resulting 3D bioprinted constructs support cell growth and are applicable in areas such as tissue regeneration and anticancer drug testing. In vitro studies have demonstrated promising results, confirming the bioink’s ability to support healthy cell growth and function.

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The innovation of this project lies in the development of a plant-based hydrogel bioink derived from cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) extracted from oil palm trunks, combined with alginate and PEGDA. This unique formulation offers a sustainable, biodegradable, and ethically inclusive alternative to animal-based bioinks while maintaining excellent printability, biocompatibility, and cell-supportive properties. The bioink enables precise 3D bioprinting of customised constructs for applications in soft tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, wound healing, and drug screening, providing an affordable and eco-friendly solution for the biomedical industry.

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