A team of researchers from California-based Terasaki Institute is using egg whites to create bio-ink for tissue engineering, which is the process of creating new tissues — similar to those found in human bodies — for healing injuries or designing organs to replace damaged ones.

Specifically, the team is turning regular egg whites into a substance called egg white methacryloyl (EWMA) for use as bio-ink to 3D print tissues, layer by layer. This bio-ink is expected to offer a supportive environment for living cells to attach to and subsequently multiply.

To create the bio-ink, the team used a process that involved transforming ordinary egg whites, which are made up primarily of proteins, into a material appropriate for 3D bioprinting. The proteins were chemically altered by inserting methacryloyl groups into their structure — a process called methacryloylation. This reportedly resulted in a bio-ink that, when exposed to light, encouraged the methacryloyl groups to react and create strong crosslinks. The researchers added that the crosslinks then formed a gel-like structure that solidified the bio-ink into a 3D shape.

Further, the bio-ink contains antiviral and antibacterial capabilities, which are essential for infection prevention in medical applications.