In recent years, the field of 3D bioprinting has witnessed the intriguing development of a new type of bioink known as microbial inks. Bioinks, typically associated with mammalian cells, have been reimagined to involve microbes, enabling many new applications beyond tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This review presents the latest advancements in microbial inks, including their definition, types, composition, salient characteristics, and biomedical applications. Herein, microbes are genetically engineered to produce 1) extrudable bioink and 2) life-like functionalities such as self-regeneration, self-healing, self-regulation, biosynthesis, biosensing, biosignaling, biosequestration, etc. We also discuss some of the promising applications of 3D extrusion printed microbial inks, such as 1) drugs and probiotics delivery, 2) metabolite production, 3) tissue engineering, 4) bioremediation, 5) biosensors and bioelectronics, 6) biominerals and biocomposites, and 7) infectious disease modeling. Finally, we describe some of the current challenges of microbial inks that needs to be addressed in the coming years, to make a greater impact in health science and technology and many other fields.

中文翻译：

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用于生物医学应用的微生物墨水的 3D 挤出生物打印


近年来，3D 生物打印领域见证了一种称为微生物墨水的新型生物墨水的有趣发展。通常与哺乳动物细胞相关的生物墨水已被重新构想以涉及微生物，从而在组织工程和再生医学之外实现许多新应用。本文综述了微生物油墨的最新进展，包括其定义、类型、成分、突出特性和生物医学应用。在此，微生物经过基因工程改造可产生 1） 可挤出的生物墨水和 2） 栩栩如生的功能，例如自我再生、自我修复、自我调节、生物合成、生物传感、生物信号传导、生物隔离等。我们还讨论了 3D 挤出打印微生物墨水的一些有前途的应用，例如 1） 药物和益生菌递送，2） 代谢物生产，3） 组织工程，4） 生物修复，5） 生物传感器和生物电子学，6） 生物矿物和生物复合材料，以及 7） 传染病建模。最后，我们描述了微生物墨水当前需要解决的一些挑战，这些挑战需要在未来几年内解决，以便在健康科学和技术以及许多其他领域产生更大的影响。