AccScience Publishing / IJB / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/IJB026350375
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Early Access

Large language models for bioink knowledge extraction, design, and biofabrication workflow automation: A critical conceptual review

Yangyang Wang1 Jiaxun Zhang1 Haotian Bai1 Yufei Ren1 Yanning Yang1 Jihan Wang2* Jing Lv3*
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1 Department of Automation, School of Physics and Electronic Information, Yan’an University, Yan’an, Shaanxi , China
2 Department of Basic Medicine, Yan’an Medical College, Yan’an University, Yan’an, Shaanxi , China
3 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi , China
Received: 27 August 2026 | Revised: 16 September 2026 | Accepted: 21 September 2026 | Published online: 21 September 2026
© 2026 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/ )
Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting offers precise spatial control for fabricating cell-laden constructs, yet bioink development remains constrained by labor-intensive trial-and-error experiments and fragmented reporting. Conventional machine-learning pipelines can support quantitative property prediction but generally require structured inputs and therefore do not natively use the formulation knowledge embedded in narrative literature. Large language models (LLMs), particularly when combined with domain-adapted information extraction, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and knowledge graphs, offer a complementary route for converting literature into traceable design evidence. This critical conceptual review examines how these technologies could support bioink knowledge extraction, formulation recommendation, and design-build-test-learn (DBTL) workflow coordination. Because direct experimental applications of LLMs to bioink design remain scarce, we explicitly distinguish demonstrated evidence in bioprinting from transferable evidence in biomedical natural-language processing, materials informatics, chemistry, and autonomous experimentation, and from prospective biofabrication concepts. We outline a provenance-aware Bioink Knowledge Graph (BioKG), clarify the complementary roles of LLMs, numerical generative models, Bayesian optimization, computer vision, and robotic control, and provide tissue-specific workflow scenarios and a minimum proof-of-concept evaluation framework. Key limitations include conflicting and heterogeneous evidence, cell-type-specific constraints, hallucination, limited benchmark datasets, and the absence of end-to-end validation. The resulting framework should therefore be interpreted as an evidence-bounded research roadmap rather than as a clinically or experimentally validated autonomous bioprinting system.

Keywords
Large language models
3D bioprinting
Bioink design
Inverse design
Design-Build-Test-Learn
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International Journal of Bioprinting, Electronic ISSN: 2424-8002 Print ISSN: 2424-7723, Published by AccScience Publishing