India’s Next Big Innovation Labs (NBIL), a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, specializes in 3D bioprinting platform technology that is enabling innovations such as 3D bioprinting of corneal tissue and organ-on-a-chip. Supported by investments from the Government of Karnataka, India’s Department of Biotechnology, Lockheed Martin, TATA Trusts, and Merck Group, it aims to advance tissue engineering and cell biology research with its TRIVIMA bioprinting platform, developed in partnership with Microsoft to enhance AI-enabled bioprinting.
NBIL’s vision is to leverage the convergence of AI with science, engineering and medicine to eliminate animal testing in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and to develop personalized bio-printed tissues and organs for clinical transplantation.
“From enhancing drug development through precise and efficient testing models to pioneering advancements in regenerative medicine to the fabrication of bioengineered organs, our goal is to facilitate breakthroughs that transform novel research, patient treatment outcomes and the future of healthcare,” says Alok Medikepura Anil, an engineer with expertise in emerging technologies and their application in healthcare.
The low-hanging fruit is to replace animal testing for cosmetics by recreating human skin tissue and corneal tissue via bioprinters, he says. The process is cruelty-free and unlike the process of growing human skin, can be cost-effectively scaled up, says Medikepura Anil, a member of the Forum’s Global Future Council on Generative Biology.
NBIL’s organs on a chip – microfluidic chips which are used to grow human cells and tissues to mimic organ functions – are currently in development for use by hospitals and research labs to better mimic and test personalized treatments in the lab. NBIL’s customers include Moopen Medical College, the medical research wing of Aster, a group of hospitals and clinics in the United Arab Emirates and India. It is also targeting customers in Europe, Singapore and the Middle East.
Eventually 3D bioprinted tissue could help solve the global organ donor crisis and usher in the age of personalized medicine, says Medikepura Anil. 3D bioprinted solutions are patient-specific and created using the patient’s own stem cells. This leads to almost zero rejection of the transplanted lab-grown tissue or organ, he says. And, since bioprinted tissue can be created on demand, it reduces the challenges of organ transportation, given their limited survival time outside the donor body, and helps reduce the financial burdens on government healthcare system’s expenditure and that of patients who pay for their treatment.
Take the case of corneas. Some 2.2 billion people globally suffer from impaired vision or blindness. Cornea issues are the second largest cause of blindness but there is only one available human cornea for every 70 people who need one. Some 10 million people are on a waitlist. About 70% of those that do receive an implant are rejected by the body within 10 years. NBIL’s platform can be used to empower researchers to make a corneal implant by taking cells from humans and then layering them to bioprint personalized new corneas.
Bioprinting could be used during other types of surgery in future. BioPen, a project in Australia has tested the use of the latest technologies in stem cell science, 3-D printing and tissue engineering, to replace damaged cartilage during knee surgery.
“We want to get closer to doctors and clinicians and hospitals to understand patient needs and work on personalized specific solutions,” says Medikepura Anil.
Competitors include Switzerland ‘s RegenHU which offers fully customizable bioprinting platforms and Sweden’s Cellink, a Swedish 3D bioprinting company.
NBIL says its chief differentiators are a deep understanding of engineering behind 3D printing, materials science, AI in bioprinting and biological applications, all fused into the 3D bioprinting platform it is offering to the research and medical community. “The ability to fuse modern innovations that are emerging in the new industrial era with Indian ingenuity in manufacturing provides NBIL an added advantage over its competitors,” says Medikepura Anil.
The Indian scale-up is part of the booming bioeconomy, which is based on the use of engineered microbial, plant, and human and animal cells to produce commercially important products at scale with precision and sustainability.
“With an operating system that runs on biology at its core, the tech-driven bioeconomy represents one of the most significant opportunities of the century,” the World Economic Forum said in a 2024 report.
India recently approved a BIO-E3 policy (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment, and Employment). This policy aims to drive high-performance biomanufacturing, positioning India as a global leader, with a target to achieve a $300 billion bioeconomy by 2030.
Biomanufacturing aligns with India’s “Make in India”, an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products in India, and its broader vision of shifting towards a bio-based economy, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and addressing global challenges such as food security and climate change.
India’s bioeconomy has expanded from $10 billion in 2014 to more than $130 billion in 2024. With the BIO-E3 Policy in place, India aims to propel this growth further, targeting $300 billion by 2030.
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