BITS Pilani 3D Prints Skin Scaffolds and Drug Tablets From Cheap Hydrogel

A team at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K.K. Birla Goa Campus, has developed a hydrogel bioink made from pharmaceutical-grade polymers that can be 3D printed into both skin tissue scaffolds and chewable drug tablets. The material uses maize starch, maltodextrin, and sodium alginate, all of which are already approved for medical use and inexpensive to source.

How the bioink works

The hydrogel exhibits shear-thinning behaviour, meaning it flows when pushed through a nozzle and then regains its shape once deposited. The researchers measured 87% thixotropic recovery, which is enough to keep printed layers from collapsing. After printing, the structures are crosslinked in calcium chloride, forming stable egg-box junctions that lock the material into a water-rich gel.

Two practical applications

The team printed porous scaffolds designed for skin regrowth, with pores around 39 micrometres wide. Those pores let oxygen and nutrients reach living cells while giving them a surface to attach to. Tests with mouse fibroblasts and human keratinocytes showed more than 70% cell survival after 48 hours, and blood compatibility tests confirmed minimal damage to red blood cells.

They also loaded the same bioink with glimepiride, a drug used for type 2 diabetes, and printed customised chewable tablets. Each tablet delivered a precise 2 mg dose, and the release profile spread that dose over four hours. That level of dose control is difficult to achieve with conventional tablet manufacturing at low doses.

Why this matters

Most bioinks rely on specialised, expensive materials that carry regulatory and safety hurdles. By using food-grade and pharmaceutical-grade polymers, the BITS Pilani team removed several barriers to clinical adoption. If the method scales, hospitals could print patient-specific skin grafts on demand, and pharmacies could produce personalised tablets that combine multiple drugs into a single chewable dose.