While researchers have seen some success with the 3D printing of bones on Earth, the manufacture of soft human tissue, such as blood vessels and muscle, has proven more difficult. On Earth, when attempting to print with soft, easily flowing biomaterials that better mimic the body’s natural environment, tissues collapse under their own weight – resulting in little more than a puddle. But if these same materials are used in space in a microgravity environment, 3D-printed soft tissues will maintain their shape.

Without proper conditioning, space-printed tissues also would collapse if immediately returned to Earth. Operating in space along with BFF is a Redwire-developed cell-culturing system that strengthens the tissue over time, to the point where it becomes viable and self-supporting once back in the Earth’s gravity. Whereas the tissue printing process may take less than a day, the strengthening process can take 12 to 45 days, depending on the tissue.

The long-term success of BFF as a manufacturing system brings an array of prospective medical breakthroughs, including:

- Reducing the organ donor shortage (there are over 104,000 people on the national transplant waiting lists)
- Creating patient-specific replacement tissues or patches
- The possibility of transplant recipients receiving organs comprised of their own stem cells, thus reducing likelihood of rejection, and reducing long-term costs associated with a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs, and perhaps additional transplants
- Eliminating the requirement that someone must first die in order for another person to receive a new heart or other organ
- Testing drug efficacy using Redwire-manufactured tissue

BBF has achieved the highest Technology Readiness Level of 9* as indicated by NASA. BFF completed its first space-based prints in December 2019 using human heart cells. Materials for this new print were launched in March on SpaceX CRS-20, allowing the team to manufacture test prints of a partial human meniscus.

* Level 9 is the highest level, meaning that the system is an actual system that has been "flight proven" through successful missions.

Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), the company that provides BFF services, is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. The company has operations in 10 locations and approximately 800 total employees in the U.S. and internationally. It is a global leader in mission critical space solutions and high reliability components for the next generation space economy, with valuable intellectual property for solar power generation, in-space 3D printing and manufacturing, avionics, critical components, sensors, digital engineering and space-based biotechnology. Redwire combines decades of flight heritage with an agile and innovative culture. The company’s “Heritage plus Innovation" strategy enables it to combine proven performance with new, innovative capabilities to provide its customers with the building blocks for the present and future of space infrastructure.

Message from Redwire to Asia!
"While Redwire is headquartered in the U.S., and includes locations in Europe, it considers Asia one of its most important markets. The company is eager to partner on in-space research and manufacturing projects with universities, government agencies, and commercial companies in the region."

Source:
https://redwirespace.com/products/bff/
https://www.issnationallab.org/ng18-bff-printer-redwire/
https://www.issnationallab.org/techshot-biofabrication-facility-prints-meniscus/