Samueli School of Engineering

The cost of developing a single pharmaceutical medication takes more than 10 years and $2.5 billion. Despite an annual compounding financial investment of approximately 13%, no overwhelming innovations in improving the efficacy and safety of newly discovered drugs has been shown. The Syroto Bioprinter is designed to increase efficiency of testing of potential new molecular entities on cell cultures. Current bioprinters available on the market are too expensive for small companies to afford or have too limited of range of capabilities to justify their purchase. Our prototype promises cheaper, efficient, and accurate dispensing of biomaterials to fit researchers needs. By creating a printer with modular capabilities, multiple types of materials and dispensing techniques are achievable in one dispensing run. Smaller pharmaceutical companies can now have the means and resources to scale up testing and further innovation in drug discovery or repurposing of existing molecular entities.

Faculty Adviser:   Dr. Elliot Botvinick