Project

In TENTACLE we will develop a first-of-its-kind, artificial intelligence-enpowered, in situ bioprinting system capable of bioprinting a tubular, shape-morphing composite bioconstruct directly onto the patient’s intestinal muscle layer through a minimally invasive surgical procedure. The biocomstruct will be characterized by two layers, able to replicate, rispectivelly the intestinal mucosa and submucosa. The TENTACLE bioprinting system will comprise a colonoscopic bioprinter, two bioinks (i.e., biomaterial inks containing autologous living cells), and a biomaterial ink formulation enriched with nano- and micro-carriers for the delivery of antibacterial and antifibrotic agents. The bioprinting suite will be driven by artificial intelligence models capable of: i) digitally reconstructing the patient’s intestinal architecture to generate the printing path, thereby tailoring the surgical procedure to each patient, and ii) real-time detecting any printing errors that may occur during the bioprinting procedure.