MANILA, Philippines - Autodesk Inc., the leader in cloud-based design and engineering software, has tied up with three-dimensional human tissues for medical research and therapeutic applications creator Organovo Holdings Inc. to create the first 3D design software for bioprinting.
Autodesk senior vice president and chief technology officer Jeff Kowalski said in a statement that bioprinting has the potential to change the world,
“It’s a blend of engineering, biology and 3D printing, which makes it a natural for Autodesk. I think working with Organovo to explore and evolve this emerging field will yield some fascinating and radical advances in medical research.”
The software, which will be used to control Organovo’s NovoGen MMX bioprinter would represent a major step forward in usability and functionality for designing three-dimensional human tissues, and has the potential to open up bioprinting to a broader group of users.
Keith Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer at Organovo, said Autodesk is an excellent fit for developing new software for 3D bioprinters.
“This partnership will lead to advances in bioprinting, including both greater flexibility and throughput internally, and the potential long-term ability for customers to design their own 3D tissues for production by Organovo,” Murphy stressed.
Organovo’s 3D bioprinting technology is used to create living human tissues that are three-dimensional, architecturally correct, and made entirely of living human cells, without requiring a synthetic extra-cellular matrix.
The resulting structures could function like native human tissues, and represent an opportunity for advancement in medical research, drug discovery and development, and, in the future, surgical therapies and transplantation.
The Autodesk research group is dedicated to innovation and discovery ranging from methods to help users learn powerful digital prototyping tools, to visualization and simulation techniques that enable designers to achieve new levels of performance.
Advancing the state of the art in human-computer interaction, computer graphics and digital design technology, Autodesk collaborates openly with researchers at leading universities around the world.
On the other hand, Organovo designs and creates functional, three-dimensional human tissues for medical research and therapeutic applications.