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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting of coral-polyp bio-skin using ultrashort and biofunctionalized peptide bioinks for transplantation on coral skeletons

Alexander U. Valle-Pérez1,2 ,  Manola Moretti1,2 ,  Panayiotis Bilalis1,2 ,  Sebastian Overmans3 ,  Kyle J. Lauersen3 ,  Christian Baumgartner4 ,  Charlotte A. E. Hauser1,2,4*
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1 Laboratory for Nanomedicine, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Mecca Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2 Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Mecca Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3 Laboratory for Sustainable & Synthetic Biotechnology, Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Mecca Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
4 Institute of Health Care Engineering with European Testing Center of Medical Devices, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Graz, Styria, Austria
ESAM 2025, 1(3), 025270017 https://doi.org/10.36922/ESAM025270017
Received: 5 July 2025 | Revised: 12 August 2025 | Accepted: 19 August 2025 | Published online: 18 September 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

There is growing interest in applying 3D printing technologies to environmental restoration, particularly for fabricating bio-inspired artificial reefs and printing coral skeletons to attract fish and support coral growth and survival. More recently, tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting strategies have been employed to develop biomimetic biomaterials that more closely replicate the natural coral microenvironment, including the incorporation of coral symbionts, to aid restoration efforts. In this study, we investigate the use of diverse ultrashort peptide- and biofunctionalized peptide-based bioinks to support bail-out polyp re-settlement and subsequent micropropagation. Among the 13 bioinks examined, eight demonstrated polyp biocompatibility and stability under seawater conditions. We focused on two Scleractinia species, Stylophora pistillata and Pocillopora verrucosa, and optimized a culture strategy for microencapsulated bail-out polyps following re-settlement, comparing a single-entity versus clustered-entity approach. These advancements lay the groundwork for polyp transplantation using biomimetic biomaterials. The top-performing bioinks were selected based on bioink underwater stability, polyp biocompatibility, and suitability for 3D bioprinting of polyps onto coral skeletons. This led to the development of a coral-inspired, polyp-containing bio-skin graft designed to promote coral tissue regeneration. Here, we report the first results demonstrating the use of bioinks for coral polyp microencapsulation and 3D bioprinting with ultrashort peptide-based bioinks to support coral regeneration and transplantation on coral skeletons.

Keywords
3D bioprinting
Artificial coral tissue
Ultrashort peptide bioinks
Biofunctionalized bioinks
Coral polyp microencapsulation
Coral polyp transplantation
Polyp bail-out
Funding
This research was funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to Charlotte A. E. Hauser. Additional funding was provided by Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) to Christian Baumgartner, and by research start-up funds awarded to Charlotte A. E. Hauser.
Conflict of interest
Charlotte A. E. Hauser is an Editorial Board Member of this journal, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
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Engineering Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 3082-849X Published by AccScience Publishing
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