3D printing has revolutionized the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, emerging as a widely adoptable strategy for the fabrication of mammalian cell-laden constructs laden with complex microenvironments. More recently, 3D printed living materials containing microorganisms have been developed. The potential for engineered 3D living materials as in vitro models for biomedical applications, such as antimicrobial susceptibility testing, is extensive; however, the need for an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the complex construct and the microorganism response still exists. Additionally, there exists a lack of multispecies engineered living material models (ELMM), which more closely mimic naturally occurring biofilms. This work includes the successful development of 3D printed single and mixed species in vitro ELMM for the development of antimicrobial therapeutics. Results successfully demonstrated the effect of maturation age on response to antimicrobial agents. Additionally, a gelatin 3D printing bath was fabricated, characterized, and yielded biomimetic 3D ELMM that could not otherwise be fabricated with low viscosity bioinks. With (1) non-traditional scaffold fabrication techniques for low viscosity bioinks, (2) enhanced understanding of the effect of biofilm maturation age on antimicrobial susceptibility, and (3) investigation into the interaction of mixed species models, 3D printed engineered living materials could provide in vitro infectious disease models for the discovery of distinct antibiofilm drugs. The results show proof-of-concept in vitro multispecies ELMM to more accurately mimic naturally occurring conditions with confirmed cell viability and maturation.
Lazarus et al. (2026) studied this question.