Millions of people suffer from tissue/organ injuries or damage. As examples, 130,000 surgeries are currently performed annually in Canada to replace hips/knees, and at the end of 2018 some 4,351 people were on the waiting list for organ transplantation with 223 dying while waiting. Notably, tissue/organ transplantation is a means to treat tissue/organ injuries but is severely restricted due to the limited availability of donor tissues/organs. Tissue engineering is an emerging field with the aim of producing ‘artificial’ tissue/organ substitutes (or scaffolds) for implanting into patients, supporting/promoting cell growth and tissue regeneration and thus providing a permanent solution to treat tissue/organ injuries.

 

Bioprinting (a technique based on three-dimensional (3D) printing) has evolved over the past two decades for creating scaffolds with living cells and controlled architectural/mechanical/biological properties, thus standing out among various techniques for producing scaffolds for tissue engineering. To bring these scaffolds to clinical use, highly skilled innovators/engineers with both technical and professional skills in bioprinting and tissue engineering are needed and sought by Canadian industry, government, and academia. The training program in bioprinting scaffolds for tissue engineering will, through collaborative research, support the interdisciplinary training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) in bioprinting scaffolds for tissue engineering.