Prof. Dr. Boris Chichkov from the Institute of Quantum Optics was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. He is a scientist and member of the Cluster of Excellence QuantumFrontiers and also a member of the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD. The ERC Advanced Grant funding line of the European Research Council (ERC) is aimed at established scientists with a longstanding outstanding scientific curriculum vitae who wish to open up new fields of research. Prof. Dr. Boris Chichkov conducts research on laser biofabrication of 3D multicellular tissue with vascular network (Laser Tissue Perfuse). Fabrication of three-dimensional vascularised organs is one of the most significant unsolved challenges in the field of biofabrication and tissue engineering. Blood vessels enable the transport of gas, nutrients and metabolites to and from cells and are therefore a basic requirement for the survival of biological tissue - both in vitro and in vivo - following transplantation. In order to reproduce the complexity and structure of functional circulatory systems (arteries and veins, as well as micrometre-sized arterioles, venules and capillaries), new procedures need to be developed for high-resolution, multi-level biological constructs. Research into new approaches involving laser-based bioprinters and two-photon polymerisation is being conducted to achieve this. This unique combination of methods is expected to enable the production of complex vascular networks for the first time.
