Wanna be part of history? Here’s how you could bring tomorrow today.
Chicago-based startup BIOLIFE4D is developing a technology to manufacture 3D printed hearts and it wants individuals to be part of it. It plans to offer a portion of its shares to everyday investors through its equity crowdfunding program.
Earlier in September 2017, the company said it had submitted a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announcing plans to raise $50 million.
The company has filed an IPO under the Regulation A+ rules which now allow businesses to raise up to $50 million from qualified individual investors.
The company will use the proceeds to recruit new specialists, increase its lab space and develop and license related technologies.
With these efforts, BIOLIFE4D hopes to bring its cardiac tissue regeneration and organ replacement technologies to the market.Ultimately, this will allow it to 3D bioprint a viable human heart suitable for transplant, it said.
To this end, it will utilize solutions from areas as diverse as regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, 3D printing techniques and computing technology in an effort to make organ replacement commercially available globally.
The company’s goal is to manufacture a fully functioning heart “created through 3D bioprinting and the patient’s own cells, eliminating the challenges of organ rejection and long donor waiting lists that plague existing organ transplant methods”, the company said.
As explained by scientists Chee Kai Chua and Wai Yee Yeong in their book Bioprinting: Principles and Applications, 3D bioprinting is the process of “creating cell patterns in a confined space using 3D printing technologies, where cell function and viability are preserved within the printed construct”.
To 3D bioprint an organ, scientists use a special 3D bioprinter which works with “ink” and a cartridge, much like a regular printer. The equivalent of ink, or “bio-ink”, is made of living cells which behave like a liquid allowing users to mould them in the desired shape.
Data by London, UK-based research company Technavio shows that 3D bioprinting market is expected to grow steadily in the next years and post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25% by 2021. It said demand has been constantly on the rise in the past years with existing vendors unable to meet it creating a robust supply gap.
Thanks to the advancements in regenerative medicine and related sciences, as well as the accelerated technological pace in the latest years, it is now possible to produce human body parts like multilayered skin, bone, vascular grafts, heart tissue – and even organs, BIOLIFE4D explains.
Investors can currently express interest, although BIOLIFE4D said it did not accept investments yet.
You can click here to learn more or indicate interest in investing with the company.
See the process of bioprinting a human heart in action:
