Bioprinting breakthrough will let scientists print their own proteins

Four students embarking on their PhDs at Cambridge decided they wanted to solve that problem over a beer back in 2013. Michael Chen, Nuclera’s cofounder and CEO, believes it could massively speed up drug discovery and open new avenues of innovation in biotech. That’s the technology that enables display devices (like Kindles) to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. The latest developments in biotechnology, like synthetic DNA, gene editing and sequencing and 3D-printed tissues are opening the field up to investors like never before. Startups in Europe are making inroads: France’s DNA Script, which is printing custom DNA, raised $200m in its Series C round earlier this year, while Swedish Cellink, which has already IPO’d, is 3D printing human organs and tissues.