Jun 16, 2024 
Dr. Flore-Anne Poujade earned her PhD from the University of Hull, UK. During her academic career, she worked on several projects. Including deciphering the roles of growth factors and hypoxia in regulating chondrocytic phenotype in vitro, as well as creating an aorta on a chip model to better understand the mechanisms driving ascending aortic aneurysm. After her postdoc at the Karolinska Institute, she joined CELLINK, where she now works as a Senior Field Application Scientist. As such, over the past 3 years, she has advised numerous researchers on 3D bioprinting techniques and practices to help democratize the fabrication of more realistic research models. Dr. Poujade is speaking at the 3D Bioprinting & Biofabrication for Musculoskeletal Tissues.
When was the first encounter you had with 3D printing? What was that experience like?
Flore-Anne: Like many people, I first encountered 3D printing before I heard of 3D bioprinting. Quickly, the possible applications for such a technology became mind-blowing. However, it is important to keep one’s head cool and remain realistic when it comes to expectations for the future of bioprinting, specifically the timeline.
What inspired you to start your journey?
Flore-Anne: Early on, I started working with primary cells and hypoxia, with the objective of cell culture conditions on the bench as close as possible to the in vivo environment. 3D bioprinting appeared as the natural next step with its ability to provide tailored ECM and recreate complex structures resembling native tissues in a dish.
What motivates you the most for your work?
Flore-Anne: Research is an essential part of society and critical to medical advancement. By providing guidelines and protocols to help scientists generate more life-like models, data will become more robust and more readily translational, speeding up the understanding of disease mechanisms and drug discovery. As a pioneer in 3D bioprinting and bioinks, we at CELLINK aim to contribute to establishing guidelines and standards in the field.
What is/are the biggest obstacle(s) in your line of work? If you have conquered them, what were your solutions?
Flore-Anne: Like many new techniques, 3D bioprinting can appear scary and complex. Our biggest challenge is to change this mindset by demonstrating how easy and straightforward it is to use. Start small and simple; very soon, you will be able to create more complex structures that will yield reproducible and translatable data!
What do you think is (are) the biggest challenge(s) in 3D bioprinting? What do you think the potential solution(s) is (are)?
Flore-Anne: Biology is incredibly complex, and we have not decrypted all of its secrets. It can be quite difficult to reproduce a system that we do not fully understand, especially when it comes to printing fully functioning organs for transplant, for example. Too many cellular processes and interactions are still unknown to allow printing a kidney or a heart on-demand for patients in need.
What advice would you give an intelligent, driven college student in the “real world”? What bad advice have you heard they should ignore?
Flore-Anne: You are most likely the first one to walk on your path. Others may have walked similar routes, but each journey is personal. Although the direction is not always obvious from the start, it will all make sense retrospectively. Trust the process and follow your gut!
What’s your favorite book you read this year and why? Alternatively, what’s your favorite book of all time you read and why?
Flore-Anne: It’s a few years old, but The Gene: An Intimate History, by Siddhartha Mukherjee, exemplifies what makes science and research exciting! A good understanding of the principles behind health and illness leads to improved healthcare solutions.
Related Links:
Interview with Y. Shrike Zhang: 3D Bioprinting & Organoids
Interview with Natan Barros: 3D Bioprinting and Microfluidics
Guide: 3D Printing For Cancer Care
Interview with Elliot McAllister: 3D Printing Microfluidics
Interview with Denys Gurak: A.D.A.M. and 3D Printed Bones
San Francisco: 3D Printing and AI in Orthopedics (On-Demand)
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