Machine Assisted Experimentation of Extrusion-Based Bioprinting Systems

Optimization of extrusion-based bioprinting (EBB) parameters have been systematically conducted through experimentation. However, the process is time- and resource-intensive and not easily translatable to other laboratories. This study approaches EBB parameter optimization through machine learning (ML) models trained using data collected from the published literature. We investigated regression-based and classification-based ML models and their abilities to predict printing outcomes of cell viability and filament diameter for cell-containing alginate and gelatin composite bioinks. In addition, we interrogated if regression-based models can predict suitable extrusion pressure given the desired cell viability when keeping other experimental parameters constant. We also compared models trained across data from general literature to models trained across data from one literature source that utilized alginate and gelatin bioinks. The results indicate that models trained on large amounts of data can impart physical trends on cell viability, filament diameter, and extrusion pressure seen in past literature. Regression models trained on the larger dataset also predict cell viability closer to experimental values for material concentration combinations not seen in training data of the single-paper-based regression models. While the best performing classification models for cell viability can achieve an average prediction accuracy of 70%, the cell viability predictions remained constant despite altering input parameter combinations. Our trained models on bioprinting literature data show the potential usage of applying ML models to bioprinting experimental design.