Printed Life

This article discusses the advancement in bioprinting technology that would enable three-dimensional printing of living organs for transplant. Today, artificial or replacement tissue is commonly grown on collagen scaffolds that contain biological starter cells. The goal here is the growing of a biocompatible piece of tissue to repair or replace a patient’s own damaged body part, such as bone, cartilage, blood vessels, or skin. In future, bioprinting technology will allow making living organs for transplant. The method is much the same as additive manufacturing, in which a printer deposits a material, layer by layer, until a three-dimensional object is made. For bioprinting, the material used is likely to be living cells taken directly from the patient’s body and infused into an ink or gel to keep them alive. After printing, the material is incubated in a cell culture that mimics human body conditions until it fuses or becomes otherwise usable for implant.