Biocompatibility of 3D Printer Material to Bacterial Cultures

The pace of innovation in microfluidics and other lab-on-a-chip fields has been limited by the long, labor-intensive production cycles and the expensive laboratory equipment needed for traditional microfabrication techniques. Production of microfluidic devices via 3D printing can drastically reduce the cost and prototype production time for microfluidic masters over photolithography. More rapid iteration of cell handling and culturing devices accelerate the pace of biotechnology innovation as well, but only if cells can be effectively held and cultured in 3D printer materials. Here we examine the effects of surface treatment on bacterial growth inside custom 3D-printed well plates produced from Clear2 Resin in a Formlabs Form2 stereolithography (SLA) printer. Treatment methods focused on removal of free crosslinking mediators, and included shining light of UV spot cure laser, agitation in water for 24 hours, and a combination of both treatments. Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterial cultures were inoculated into treated, untreated, and polycarbonate control well plate chambers, and growth kinetics were collected using a plate reader. Experiments revealed that the untreated proprietary material decreases the growth rate of the bacteria strains to varying degrees. To quantify the biocompatibility of the material for the different strains, we calculated the maximum growth parameter and the doubling time of the bacteria in each of the well conditions. This data indicated that biocompatibility with the less vigorous E. coli strain can be improved by utilizing novel surface treatments on the 3D-printed material. We anticipate that our well design and biocompatibility assay could be used as a starting point for labs interested in measuring the biocompatibility of a specific organism or organisms before adopting 3D-printed geometries for different biological research applications.