Sequential multi-material 3D bioprinting of dual-stiffness peptide scaffolds for compartmentalized, multicellular bone marrow niche modeling
Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting holds great potential for tissue engineering, yet reproducing the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment remains challenging: it requires biomaterials that support the diverse BM cell types while reproducing the mechanical heterogeneity of its two major niche compartments. Here we developed an in vitro BM model representing both the endosteal and central marrow niches, using ultrashort self-assembling peptide hydrogels as bioinks and scaffolding material. Rheological characterization showed that Ac-IIZK-NH₂ (IIZK) hydrogels were stiffer than Ac-IIFK-NH₂ (IIFK); IIZK was therefore used for the endosteal compartment and IIFK for the central marrow compartment. Both peptides showed excellent printability and shape fidelity using a robotic arm-based bioprinter with a customized coaxial nozzle. The compartments were fabricated sequentially: the stiffer IIZK compartment was printed first as a self-supporting structure, and the separately cellularized IIFK compartment was then printed into the cavity it defines. This order lets each compartment's composition be set by the tissue it represents rather than by the demands of extrusion, while in-line coaxial gelation preserves the interface. Cell viability exceeded 90% for mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), BM endothelial cells (BMECs) and the leukemia lines KG1a and HL-60. BMECs spontaneously formed capillary-like networks, and MSCs upregulated RUNX2, BGLAP and SP7 even without induction medium, depositing a calcium-rich mineralized matrix upon osteogenic differentiation. Tri-culture experiments demonstrated multicellular interaction and spatial organization. Looking ahead, the CD34-positive KG1a line used here as a hematopoietic surrogate can be replaced by primary HSCs without altering the scaffold design or the printing workflow, opening the way to studies of niche-driven hematopoiesis, leukemic drug resistance and patient-specific BM modeling.
- Yu V, Scadden D. Hematopoietic stem cell and its bone marrow niche. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2016;118:21-44. doi: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2016.01.009
- Fröbel J, Landspersky T, Percin G, et al. The hematopoietic bone marrow niche ecosystem. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021;9:705410. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.705410
- Jansen LE, Birch NP, Schiffman JD, Crosby AJ, Peyton SR. Mechanics of intact bone marrow. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2015;50:299-307. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2015.06.023
- Gattazzo F, Urciuolo A, Bonaldo P. Extracellular matrix: a dynamic microenvironment for stem cell niche. Biochim Biophys Acta - Gen Subj. 2014;1840(8):2506-2519. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2014.01.010
- Abdollahiyan P, Oroojalian F, Mokhtarzadeh A, de la Guardia M. Hydrogel‐based 3D bioprinting for bone and cartilage tissue engineering. Biotechnol J. 2020;15(12):2000095. doi: 10.1002/biot.202000095
- Chimene D, Miller L, Cross LM, Jaiswal MK, Singh I, Gaharwar AK. Nanoengineered osteoinductive bioink for 3D bioprinting bone tissue. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020;12(14):15976-15988. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b19037
- Nulty J, Freeman FE, Browe DC, et al. 3D bioprinting of prevascularised implants for the repair of critically-sized bone defects. Acta Biomater. 2021;126:154-169. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2021.03.003
- Li D, Chiu G, Lipe B, et al. Decellularized Wharton jelly matrix: a biomimetic scaffold for ex vivo hematopoietic stem cell culture. Blood Adv. 2019;3(7):1011-1026. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2018019315
- Wang Z, Wu D, Zou J, et al. Development of demineralized bone matrix-based implantable and biomimetic microcarrier for stem cell expansion and single-step tissue-engineered bone graft construction. J Mater Chem B. 2017;5(1):62-73. doi: 10.1039/c6tb02414a
- Leisten I, Kramann R, Ferreira MSV, et al. 3D co-culture of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and mesenchymal stem cells in collagen scaffolds as a model of the hematopoietic niche. Biomaterials. 2012;33(6):1736-1747. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2011.11.034
- Parikh MR, Belch AR, Pilarski LM, Kirshner J. A three-dimensional tissue culture model to study primary human bone marrow and its malignancies. J Vis Exp. 2014;(85). doi: 10.3791/50947
- Bray LJ, Binner M, Körner Y, von Bonin M, Bornhäuser M, Werner C. A three-dimensional ex vivo tri-culture model mimics cell-cell interactions between acute myeloid leukemia and the vascular niche. Haematologica. 2017;102(7):1215-1226. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2016.157883
- Blanco TM, Mantalaris A, Bismarck A, Panoskaltsis N. The development of a three-dimensional scaffold for ex vivo biomimicry of human acute myeloid leukaemia. Biomaterials. 2010;31(8):2243-2251. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2009.11.094
- Hauser CA, Deng R, Mishra A, et al. Natural tri-to hexapeptides self-assemble in water to amyloid β-type fiber aggregates by unexpected α-helical intermediate structures. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2011;108(4):1361-1366. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1014796108
- Mishra A, Loo Y, Deng R, et al. Ultrasmall natural peptides self-assemble to strong temperature-resistant helical fibers in scaffolds suitable for tissue engineering. Nano Today. 2011;6(3):232-239. doi: 10.1016/j.nantod.2011.05.001
- Loo Y, Hauser CA. Bioprinting synthetic self-assembling peptide hydrogels for biomedical applications. Biomed Mater. 2015;11(1):014103. doi: 10.1088/1748-6041/11/1/014103
- Sun Y, Li W, Wu X, et al. Functional self-assembling peptide nanofiber hydrogels designed for nerve degeneration. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016;8(3):2348-2359. doi: 10.1021/acsami.5b11473
- Rauf S, Susapto HH, Kahin K, et al. Self-assembling tetrameric peptides allow in situ 3D bioprinting under physiological conditions. J Mater Chem B. 2021;9(4):1069-1081. doi: 10.1039/d0tb02424d
- Abbas M, Susapto HH, Hauser CAE. Synthesis and Organization of Gold-Peptide Nanoparticles for Catalytic Activities. ACS Omega. 2022;7(2):2082-2090. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c05546
- Wang Y, Liu X, Ge R, et al. Peptide Gel Electrolytes for Stabilized Zn Metal Anodes. ACS Nano. 2023;18(1):164-177. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c04414
- Alhattab DM, Isaioglou I, Alshehri S, et al. Fabrication of a three-dimensional bone marrow niche-like acute myeloid Leukemia disease model by an automated and controlled process using a robotic multicellular bioprinting system. Biomater Res. 2023;27(1):111. doi: 10.1186/s40824-023-00457-9
- Alhattab DM, Khan Z, Alshehri S, Susapto HH, Hauser CA. 3D bioprinting of ultrashort self-assembling peptides to engineer scaffolds with different matrix stiffness for chondrogenesis. Int J Bioprinting. 2023;9(4):719. doi: 10.18063/ijb.719
- Alshehri S, Susapto HH, Hauser CA. Scaffolds from self-assembling tetrapeptides support 3D spreading, osteogenic differentiation, and angiogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells. Biomacromolecules. 2021;22(5):2094-2106. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00205
- Xu J, Perez Pedroza R, Moretti M, et al. 3D bioprinting of colon organoids in ultrashort self-assembling and decorated peptide matrices. Int J Bioprinting. 2024;10(5). doi: 10.36922/ijb.3033
- Pérez-Pedroza R, Al-Jalih F, Xu J, Moretti M, Briola GR, Hauser CA. Fabrication of lumen-forming colorectal cancer organoids using a newly designed laminin-derived bioink. Int J Bioprinting. 2022;9(1):633. doi: 10.18063/ijb.v9i1.633
- Abdelrahman S, Alsanie W, Khan Z. A Parkinson’s disease model composed of 3D bioprinted dopaminergic neurons within a biomimetic peptide scaffold. Biofabrication. 2022;14:044103. doi: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac7eec
- Sun D, Gao W, Hu H, Zhou S. Why 90% of clinical drug development fails and how to improve it? Acta Pharm Sin B. 2022;12(7):3049-3062. doi: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.02.002
- Costa EC, Moreira AF, de Melo-Diogo D, Gaspar VM, Carvalho MP, Correia IJ. 3D tumor spheroids: an overview on the tools and techniques used for their analysis. Biotechnol Adv. 2016;34(8):1427-1441. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2016.11.002
- Melissaridou S, Wiechec E, Magan M, et al. The effect of 2D and 3D cell cultures on treatment response, EMT profile and stem cell features in head and neck cancer. Cancer Cell Int. 2019;19:1-10. doi: 10.1186/s12935-019-0733-1
- Hartung T. The (misleading) role of animal models in drug development. Front Drug Discov. 2024;4:1355044. doi: 10.3389/fddsv.2024.1355044
- Skelding KA, Barry DL, Lincz LF. Modeling the bone marrow microenvironment to better understand the pathogenesis, progression, and treatment of hematological cancers. Cancers. 2025;17(15):2571. doi: 10.3390/cancers17152571
- Zhang X, Cao D, Xu L, et al. Harnessing matrix stiffness to engineer a bone marrow niche for hematopoietic stem cell rejuvenation. Cell stem cell. 2023;30(4):378-395.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2023.03.005
- Gehling K, Parekh S, Schneider F, et al. RNA-sequencing of single cholangiocyte-derived organoids reveals high organoid-to organoid variability. Life Sci Alliance. 2022;5(12):e202101340. doi: 10.26508/lsa.202101340
- Lawlor KT, Vanslambrouck JM, Higgins JW, et al. Cellular extrusion bioprinting improves kidney organoid reproducibility and conformation. Nat Mater. 2021;20(2):260-271. doi: 10.1038/s41563-020-00853-9
- Huang MS, Christakopoulos F, Roth JG, Heilshorn SC. Organoid bioprinting: from cells to functional tissues. Nat Rev Bioeng. 2025;3(2):126-142. doi: 10.1038/s44222-024-00268-0
- Visser J, Peters B, Burger TJ, et al. Biofabrication of multi-material anatomically shaped tissue constructs. Biofabrication. 2013;5(3):035007. doi: 10.1088/1758-5082/5/3/035007
- Cheng S, Wei J, Liu S, et al. Precision and customization in regenerative medicine: The role of coaxial 3D printing. Biomed Technol. 2025;12:100115. doi: 10.1016/j.bmt.2025.100115
- Susapto HH, Alhattab D, Abdelrahman S, et al. Ultrashort peptide bioinks support automated printing of large-scale constructs assuring long-term survival of printed tissue constructs. Nano Lett. 2021;21(7):2719-2729. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c04426
- Kahin K, Khan Z, Albagami M, et al. Development of a robotic 3D bioprinting and microfluidic pumping system for tissue and organ engineering. Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XVII. 2019;10875:130-139. doi: 10.1117/12.2507237
- Loo Y, Goktas M, Tekinay AB, Guler MO, Hauser CA, Mitraki A. Self‐assembled proteins and peptides as scaffolds for tissue regeneration. Adv Healthc Mater. 2015;4(16):2557-2586. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201500402
- Loo Y, Lakshmanan A, Ni M, Toh LL, Wang S, Hauser CA. Peptide bioink: self-assembling nanofibrous scaffolds for three-dimensional organotypic cultures. Nano Lett. 2015;15(10):6919-6925. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02859
- Loo Y, Wong Y-C, Cai EZ, et al. Ultrashort peptide nanofibrous hydrogels for the acceleration of healing of burn wounds. Biomaterials. 2014;35(17):4805-4814. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.02.047
- Han SB, Kim JK, Lee G, Kim DH. Mechanical properties of materials for stem cell differentiation. Adv Biosyst. 2020;4(11):2000247. doi: 10.1002/adbi.202000247
- Zhang X, Zhang S, Wang T. How the mechanical microenvironment of stem cell growth affects their differentiation: A review. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2022;13(1):415. doi: 10.1186/s13287-022-03070-0
- Garcia R. Nanomechanical mapping of soft materials with the atomic force microscope: methods, theory and applications. Chem Soc Rev. 2020;49(16):5850-5884. doi: 10.1039/D0CS00318B
- Moretti M, Hountondji M, Ge R, et al. Selectively Positioned Catechol Moiety Supports Ultrashort Self-Assembling Peptide Hydrogel Adhesion for Coral Restoration. Langmuir. 2023;39(49):17903-17920. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c02553
- Moretti M, Limongi T, Testi C, et al. Direct Visualization and Identification of Membrane Voltage‐Gated Sodium Channels from Human iPSC‐Derived Neurons by Multiple Imaging and Light Enhanced Spectroscopy. Small Methods. 2022;6(7):2200402. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202200402
- Moretti M, La Rocca R, Perrone Donnorso M, et al. Clustering of Major Histocompatibility Complex-Class I Molecules in Healthy and Cancer Colon Cells Revealed from Their Nanomechanical Properties. ACS Nano. 2021;15(4):7500-7512. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.1c00897
- Lutolf MP, Hubbell JA. Synthetic biomaterials as instructive extracellular microenvironments for morphogenesis in tissue engineering. Nat Biotechnol. 2005;23(1):47-55. doi: 10.1038/nbt1055
- Vining KH, Mooney DJ. Mechanical forces direct stem cell behavior in development and regeneration. Nat Rev Mol Cell Bio. 2017;18(12):728-742. doi: 10.1038/nrm.2017.108
- Panciera T, Citron A, Di Biagio D, et al. Reprogramming normal cells into tumour precursors requires ECM stiffness and oncogene-mediated changes of cell mechanical properties. Nat Mater. 2020;19(7):797-806. doi: 10.1038/s41563-020-0615-x
- Abdelrahman S, Ge R, Susapto HH, et al. The impact of mechanical cues on the metabolomic and transcriptomic profiles of human dermal fibroblasts cultured in Ultrashort Self-assembling peptide 3D scaffolds. ACS Nano. 2023;17(15):14508-14531. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c01176
- Krieg M, Fläschner G, Alsteens D, et al. Atomic force microscopy-based mechanobiology. Nat Rev Phys. 2019;1(1):41-57. doi: 10.1038/s42254-018-0001-7
- Mitragotri S, Lahann J. Physical approaches to biomaterial design. Nat Mater. 2009;8(1):15-23. doi: 10.1038/nmat2344
- Guimarães CF, Gasperini L, Marques AP, Reis RL. The stiffness of living tissues and its implications for tissue engineering. Nat Rev Mater. 2020;5(5):351-370. doi: 10.1038/s41578-019-0169-1
- Caliari SR, Burdick JA. A practical guide to hydrogels for cell culture. Nat Methods. 2016;13(5):405-414. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.3839
- Nalam PC, Gosvami NN, Caporizzo MA, Composto RJ, Carpick RW. Nano-rheology of hydrogels using direct drive force modulation atomic force microscopy. Soft Matter. 2015;11(41):8165-8178. doi: 10.1039/c5sm01143d
- Loparic M, Wirz D, Daniels A, et al. Micro-and nanomechanical analysis of articular cartilage by indentation-type atomic force microscopy: validation with a gel-microfiber composite. Biophys J. 2010;98(11):2731-2740. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2010.02.013
- Stolz M, Raiteri R, Daniels A, VanLandingham MR, Baschong W, Aebi U. Dynamic elastic modulus of porcine articular cartilage determined at two different levels of tissue organization by indentation-type atomic force microscopy. Biophys J. 2004;86(5):3269-3283. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(04)74375-1
- Comazzetto S, Shen B, Morrison SJ. Niches that regulate stem cells and hematopoiesis in adult bone marrow. Dev Cell. 2021;56(13):1848-1860. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2021.05.018
- Shiozawa Y, Havens A, Pienta K, Taichman R. The bone marrow niche: habitat to hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells, and unwitting host to molecular parasites. Leukemia. 2008;22(5):941-950. doi: 10.1038/leu.2008.48
- Mosteo L, Storer J, Batta K, Searle EJ, Duarte D, Wiseman DH. The dynamic interface between the bone marrow vascular niche and hematopoietic stem cells in myeloid malignancy. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021;9:635189. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2021.635189
- Sharma M, Ross C, Srivastava S. Ally to adversary: mesenchymal stem cells and their transformation in leukaemia. Cancer Cell Int. 2019;19(1). doi: 10.1186/s12935-019-0855-5
- Méndez-Ferrer S, Bonnet D, Steensma DP, et al. Bone marrow niches in haematological malignancies. Nat Rev Cancer. 2020;20(5):285-298. doi: 10.1038/s41568-020-0245-2
- Arnaoutova I, George J, Kleinman HK, Benton G. The endothelial cell tube formation assay on basement membrane turns 20: state of the science and the art. Angiogenesis. 2009;12(3):267-274. doi: 10.1007/s10456-009-9146-4
- Lipps C, Badar M, Butueva M, et al. Proliferation status defines functional properties of endothelial cells. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2017;74(7):1319-1333. doi: 10.1007/s00018-016-2417-5
- Ponce ML. Tube formation: an in vitro matrigel angiogenesis assay. Angiogenesis protocols. New York, NY: Springer; 2009;467:183-188. doi: 10.1007/978-1-59745-241-0_10
- Andrée B, Ichanti H, Kalies S, et al. Formation of three-dimensional tubular endothelial cell networks under defined serum-free cell culture conditions in human collagen hydrogels. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):5437. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41985-6
- Gomathi K, Akshaya N, Srinaath N, Moorthi A, Selvamurugan N. Regulation of Runx2 by post-translational modifications in osteoblast differentiation. Life Sci. 2020;245:117389. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2020.117389
- Virdi JK, Pethe P. Biomaterials regulate mechanosensors YAP/TAZ in stem cell growth and differentiation. Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2021;18(2):199-215. doi: 10.1007/s13770-020-00301-4
- Kode A, Manavalan JS, Mosialou I, et al. Leukaemogenesis induced by an activating β-catenin mutation in osteoblasts. Nature. 2014;506(7487):240-244. doi: 10.1038/nature12883
- Kulterer B, Friedl G, Jandrositz A, et al. Gene expression profiling of human mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow during expansion and osteoblast differentiation. BMC Genomics. 2007;8(1):1-15. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-8-70
- Lui JC, Raimann A, Hojo H, et al. A neomorphic variant in SP7 alters sequence specificity and causes a high-turnover bone disorder. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):700. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28318-4
- Krutty JD, Schmitt SK, Gopalan P, Murphy WL. Surface functionalization and dynamics of polymeric cell culture substrates. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2016;40:164-169. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2016.05.006
- Engler AJ, Sen S, Sweeney HL, Discher DE. Matrix elasticity directs stem cell lineage specification. Cell. 2006;126(4):677-689. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.06.044
- Oliveros Anerillas L, Kingham PJ, Lammi MJ, Wiberg M, Kelk P. Three-dimensional osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells promotes matrix metallopeptidase 13 (MMP13) expression in type I collagen hydrogels. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(24):13594. doi: 10.3390/ijms222413594
- Cámara-Torres M, Sinha R, Sanchez A, et al. Effect of high content nanohydroxyapatite composite scaffolds prepared via melt extrusion additive manufacturing on the osteogenic differentiation of human mesenchymal stromal cells. Biomater Adv. 2022;137:212833. doi: 10.1016/j.bioadv.2022.212833
- Kim Y, Renner JN, Liu JC. Incorporating the BMP-2 peptide in genetically-engineered biomaterials accelerates osteogenic differentiation. Biomater Sci. 2014;2(8):1110-1119. doi: 10.1039/c3bm60333d
- Lei Y, Tian Y, Yang J, et al. Microfluidic Chip Platforms for Red Blood Cell Storage Lesion Quality Control and Precision Transfusion. Research. 2026;9:1405. doi: 10.34133/research.1405
- Cui D, Zhou L, Hauser CA, Li Z-A, Lei Y. The organ-on-a-chip–AI virtual cell loop: a path toward next‑generation biomedicine. Sci Bull. 2026;71(17):4345-4348. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2026.07.080
