Cellulose Bioinks Are Advancing 3D Drug Delivery Systems

When it comes to medicine, natural products have been part of the pharmacopeia since the dawn of civilization, with plants often forming the basis of effective therapies before the invention of chemical drugs.

One advantage of using biological compounds is that they tend to interact well with a patient’s body. This is also why, for a long time, materials like wood or ivory were used for some prostheses.

In modern times, researchers are exploring the potential of biomaterials to replace petroleum-derived polymers for medical applications.

A recent publication from researchers at the Gomal University (Pakistan) and the Jiangsu University (China) is exploring how cellulose, one of the molecules that make up wood, could be used alongside 3D printing to create bioinks that could be used for drug delivery, 3D printing of soft tissues, and wound healing.

They publish their results in the journal Next Materials¹, under the title “From biomass to biofabrication: The role of cellulose in sustainable 3D-printed drug delivery system and tissue regeneration”.

Cellulose As The Ultimate Sustainable Biomaterial

While cellulose is produced in especially large amounts by trees for the structural elements of wood, it is an almost omnipresent compound in most plants. As such, it is extremely sustainable, being quite literally produced through photosynthesis out of thin air (CO2), water, and sunlight. Which is why it is also quite cheap, as illustrated by the low cost of mass-produced paper, made of cellulose fibers. Cellulose is also biocompatible and biodegradable.

A polymer of glucose, cellulose, can also be 3D printed, which opens the way to many new applications in the medical field.

Source: ScienceFacts

In this study, the researchers explore the potential of 3D-printed cellulose for many applications:

• Personalized drug delivery systems.
• Tissue engineering for new ways to repair damaged organs and tissues.
• Testing a drug in artificial 3D-printed tissue models that replicate the in vivo environment.

To do so, they reviewed scientific articles published from 2015 to 2025 that combined keywords such as “cellulose”, “nanocellulose”, “bacterial cellulose”, “3D bioprinting”, “bioinks”, “drug delivery”, “tissue engineering”, “hydrogels”, and “stimuli-responsive biomaterials”

Making Cellulose Into A Medical Biomaterial

Manipulating Cellulose Crystals

Cellulose can exist in two forms, with most cellulose materials existing with a mix of both forms of the molecules:

• Crystalline, which has higher stability and mechanical strength.
• Amorphous, which is less structured, so it can make interactions with other molecules easier.

Depending on the intended effect, both forms of cellulose can be useful for medical applications.

More stable crystalline cellulose exhibits slower biodegradation rates in vivo, which is useful for applications requiring long-term mechanical integrity, such as tissue engineering scaffolds, wound dressings, and sustained drug delivery systems.

Amorphous cellulose can be more accessible to enzymatic attack and moisture uptake, leading to faster degradation and enhanced bioresorption for tissue remodeling.

Source: Next Materials

This makes preparing the cellulose structure according to a specific application’s needs an essential part of any process looking to use it for medical purposes.

“Tailoring cellulose chemistry and microstructure is essential for optimizing scaffold stability, cellular interactions, therapeutic release profiles, and overall biofabrication performance in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications.”

Cellulose-Based Derivatives

Besides pure cellulose, other compounds produced from cellulose also have medical potential. For example, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), and nanocellulose:

• CMC is used as a stabilizing and thickening ingredient in medication compositions.
• HPMC is used for creating controlled-release formulations that slowly deliver drugs to a patient.
• MCC is known for its excellent filler, disintegration, and binding qualities in the formulation of pharmaceutical tablets.
• Nanocellulose is a new, valuable material for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications thanks to its larger surface area.

In any case, bacterial cellulose is often preferred over plant-based cellulose due to its high purity, mechanical strength, water retention, and biocompatibility. It can be used as scaffolding for 3D bioprinting of both hard and soft tissues, from skin to heart muscle, as its microscopic structure mimics the extracellular matrix nanofibrous structures that support tissue regeneration.

Source: Next Materials

Cellulose in 3D bioprinting

Bioprinting Methods

Bioprinting cellulose and tissues with a cellulose scaffolding can be done using a variety of methods, each better suited to a specific type of cellulose.

For example, CNF-rich bioinks are particularly compatible with extrusion-based bioprinting. In contrast, inkjet bioprinting needs optimization of viscosity to work with cellulose bioinks.

Source: Next Materials

Cellulose also does not need to be the sole ingredient in cellulose-based bioinks. Other biomaterials can be part of the mix to increase the survival of the cells incorporated in the bioink.

“Adding cellulose nanocrystals to bioinks based on gelatin and alginate improved their mechanical qualities and increased cell viability, making these blends appropriate for a range of tissue engineering uses.”

Cellulose Bioinks Applications

Thanks to its tunable structure, cellulose can be a great solution to customize the speed and duration of drug delivery.

“Recent developments in processing methods, like 3D printing and electrospinning, have created new opportunities for creating cellulose-based drug delivery devices with improved mechanical qualities and adjustable release profiles.”

For tissue engineering, cellulose creates a valuable scaffolding on which cells can attach, grow, and form new healthy tissues, as its porous nature allows for the interchange of nutrients and waste products while encouraging cell adhesion and proliferation.

For example, cellulose can be used to simulate the extracellular matrix in skin and cartilage scaffolds, providing a platform for tissue integration and cellular infiltration. It can also be used in the production of artificial tissues from cells cultivated in a lab.

This method can be extended to the production of “organ-on-chip models”, a platform for drug testing that replicates in vitro the functioning of human organs.

Another application is wound healing. When mixed with graphene oxide, cellulose demonstrates remarkable antibacterial qualities. Alongside the scaffolding capability that improves cell migration and proliferation, this means cellulose bioinks can help tissue regeneration, especially for the skin.

Source: Next Materials

Future Improvements

Among future improvements can be the use of cellulose as a more durable scaffolding material, alongside a “sacrificial template”.

“Sacrificial materials such as gelatin, Pluronic F127, or carbohydrate glass are co-printed alongside cellulose-containing bioinks and subsequently removed by temperature change, dissolution, or washing processes. These engineered porous architectures significantly improve cell survival, tissue maturation, and vascularization in thick bioprinted constructs.”

A key factor in scaling up any 3D bioprinting method using cellulose bioinks will also be the creation of a large and consistent supply of cellulose matching predictable and stable purification requirements, addressing sterilization challenges, and maintaining microscopic composition and uniformity.

Investing In Bioprinting

3D Systems

(DDD )

3D Systems is a leader in 3D printing, with 1,000+ patents and the ability to 3D print 130 materials, producing more than a million parts daily. It is one of the world’s largest 3D printing companies alongside Nano Dimension (NNDM ) after a period of consolidation for the industry.

3D Systems moved early into bioprinting in 2017 with a research collaboration with United Therapeutics (UTHR) for 3D-printed organs and tissues. And it announced a collaboration with CollPlant Biotechnologies (CLGN) in 2020 and the acquisition of bio-ink maker Allevia in 2021.

The bioprinting activity goes alongside the 3D printing of implants for surgeries, with a cumulative total of 3,000,000 serial-component medical devices produced, as well as customized dentures.

By the end of 2025, the healthcare segment accounted for almost half of the company’s revenue. The other part is mostly driven by industrial applications, with a focus on metal 3D printing, especially in the aerospace sector, for a total of $95.5M in Q1 2026.

Thanks to positive EBITDA in early 2026, 3D Systems is probably one of the “safest” 3D printing stocks, as a leader in the sector in the booming metal 3D printing segment and already firmly established in the healthcare segment, with potential for bioinks and 3D printing to grow into a third profit center.

Study Referenced

^{1 . Asma Ashgar, et al. From biomass to biofabrication: The role of cellulose in sustainable 3D-printed drug delivery systems and tissue regeneration. Next Materials. Volume 13, October D2026, 102601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxmate.2026.102601}