Developmentally Inspired and Vision-Guided Bioprinting of Human Heart Models

Traditional approaches to heart tissue bioprinting rely on human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes that are pre-differentiated in 2D culture before being deposited into 3D constructs. This contrasts fundamentally with embryonic heart development, where mesodermal progenitors differentiate into cardiomyocytes within 3D, matrix-rich, and shape-morphing microenvironments. In this talk, I will present my group’s recent work on bioprinting strategies inspired by embryonic development that aim to enhance physiological relevance by reconstructing microenvironmental cues that guide cell fate and maturation in vivo. I will first describe our use of embedded bioprinting within granular support hydrogels to create iPSC-derived heart tissue models that undergo programmable 4D shape-morphing driven by cell-generated forces, and show how these shape-morphing behaviours influence the structural organisation and functional maturation of the resulting tissues. Building on this, I will present a developmentally inspired differentiation approach that enables in situ mesodermal and cardiac specification of iPSCs directly within bioprinted, shape-morphing tissues. The second part of the talk will highlight our latest work on integrating computer vision and AI into bioprinting workflows. I will describe how vision-powered bioprinting can enhance the precision and reproducibility of extrusion bioprinting and enable adaptive, multistage bioprinting workflows.

Dr Andrew Daly is an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Galway and a Funded Investigator at CÚRAM, the Research Ireland Centre for Medical Devices. He leads a multidisciplinary research group focused on bioprinting human heart models, with a particular focus on developmentally-inspired strategies. His group is also advancing bioprinting process controls using computer vision and machine learning. Dr Daly earned his BAI and PhD in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering from Trinity College Dublin. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, he returned to Ireland to establish his independent research program at the University of Galway. He has since secured over €3million in research funding, including a European Research Council Starting Grant in 2022 and a Proof-of-Concept Grant in 2025. He was awarded the European Society for Biomaterials’ 2025 Jean Leray Award for his contributions to biomaterials research. His research is widely cited and has been published in top-tier journals, such as Nature Communications, Advanced Functional Materials, Nature Reviews Materials, Cell, and Biomaterials.