{"id":591522,"date":"2024-02-05T11:13:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T16:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=591522"},"modified":"2026-02-04T12:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:39:24","slug":"3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\/","title":{"rendered":"Printing plant-based pharmaceuticals\u2014without plants"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Rochester undergraduates developed a 3D-bioprinting system to replicate chemicals found in plants, including those endangered by climate change.<\/h2>\n<p>Imagine a world without plants. Although this extreme scenario has not become a reality, Earth is facing a concerning trend\u2014the rapid depletion of potential plant-derived drugs. Globally, tens of thousands of flowering plant species play vital roles in medicinal applications, but many of the pharmaceuticals dominating the United States market heavily rely on imported raw plant materials that require very particular climate conditions for optimal growth. The threat to many plant species is intensified by factors such as climate change, invasive pests and diseases, and farming practices struggling to meet the large demand for end products.<\/p>\n<p>To address these problems, a team of 10 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/\">University of Rochester<\/a> undergraduate students pioneered new technologies to more efficiently replicate useful chemicals found in plants, including those endangered by Earth\u2019s changing climate. Calling themselves \u201cTeam RoSynth,\u201d the students created an affordable 3D-printing system for optimizing production of in-demand, plant-derived drugs and pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rochester undergraduates developed a 3D-printing system to replicate chemicals found in plants, including those endangered by climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":591672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[38642,486,18722,19242,16072,93,20932],"class_list":["post-591522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-anne-s-meyer","tag-awards","tag-department-of-biology","tag-global-engagement","tag-school-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-sustainability","tag-undergraduate-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Printing plant-based pharmaceuticals\u2014without plants<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A team of students has created an affordable 3D bioprinting system to produce in-demand, plant-derived drugs and pharmaceuticals.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Printing plant-based pharmaceuticals\u2014without plants\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A team of students has created an affordable 3D bioprinting system to produce in-demand, plant-derived drugs and pharmaceuticals.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-05T16:13:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-04T17:39:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fea-3d-bioprinting-hydrogels-1200x630.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lindsey Valich\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lindsey Valich\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lindsey Valich\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fcd7d29a5b8e855924bf73b764dcd827\"},\"headline\":\"Printing plant-based pharmaceuticals\u2014without plants\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-05T16:13:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-04T17:39:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":173,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/3d-bioprinting-plant-based-drugs-pharmaceuticals-591522\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rochester.edu\\\/newscenter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/fea-3d-bioprinting-hydrogels.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Anne S. 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