3D printers help us with a huge number of daily tasks, but until now we have not found any related to corals. Yes it is true researchers from various institutes are now developing the 3D Bio Reactors to produce 3D coral reef.

3D Coral Reef: A new innovation work being done at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Cambridge. They have printed structures inspired by corals so that microscopic algae can develop, and that with two objectives:

Objectives for 3D Coral Reef by 3D Printing Tech

– Develop bioreactors to produce algae-based biofuels.
– Help repair coral reefs.

In the laboratory, the algae grew with a density up to 100 times higher than in natural corals. They want to simulate the efficient light capture and conversion system to generate energy, and the first steps have been successfully completed.

For development, they have followed a method that allows structures with micron-scale resolution to be printed in a few minutes, imitating in this case the living structures of corals. Being so fast, they manage to keep the cells alive (they have already tried it with human and animal cells, now they have taken the step of doing it with algae cells).

The skeleton of the structure is made with PEGDA, a biocompatible polymer gel, and features cellulose nanocrystals. Then you have to put the coral tissue, another gel, but with gelatin, and on the surface they put tentacle-like structures, so there is more surface to absorb light.

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