Escalating cases of organ shortage and donor scarcity worldwide are alarming reminders
of the need for alternatives to allograft tissues. Within the last three decades,
research efforts in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering continue
to address the unmet need for artificial tissues and organs for transplant. Work in
the field has evolved to create what we consider a new field, Regenerative Engineering,
defined as the Convergence of advanced materials science, stem cell science, physics,
developmental biology and clinical translation towards the regeneration of complex
tissues and organ systems. Included in the regenerative engineering paradigm is advanced
manufacturing. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is a promising and innovative biofabrication
strategy to precisely position biologics, including living cells and extracellular
matrix (ECM) components, in the prescribed 3D hierarchal organization to create artificial
multi-cellular tissues/organs. In this review, we outline recent progress in several
bioprinting technologies used to engineer scaffolds with requisite mechanical, structural,
and biological complexity. We examine the process parameters affecting bioprinting
and bioink-biomaterials and review notable studies on bioprinted skin, cardiac, bone,
cartilage, liver, lung, neural, and pancreatic tissue. We also focus on other 3D bioprinting
application areas including cancer research, drug testing, high-throughput screening
(HTS), and organ-on-a-chip models. We also highlight the current challenges associated
with the clinical translation of 3D bioprinting and conclude with the future perspective
of bioprinting technology.