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  • MONDAY NOVEMBER 14 2005 11:00 AM

New Technology Prints Human Tissue

Submitted by aegies

Edited by WilWheaton

The College of Pharmacy at the University of Utah has developed a "cell based 'bio-ink' and 'bio-paper'" which can be used with a printer to create organ tissue. Gizmodo sez:

The University of Utah College of Pharmacy has developed a hydrogel that enables printing of organs by layering thin sheets embedded with cells. The system uses a patient’s own healthy cells to create bio-ink and bio-paper. The liquid hydrogel comes out of the printer cartridge in three-dimension dots that form layers as the cell-gel hardens. The cells then become tissue that can be used to repair damaged organs. Testing will begin on humans in the next year.

Protein os adds:

The cells and liquid hydrogel are put in the printer cartridge and then dropped into three-dimensional, 1-microliter dots that form layers as the hydrogel hardens. The cells form tissue that can be implanted into a damaged organ.

Organ transplant lists are often enormous, and many die while waiting for an eligible donor (who in turn must often die to provide an organ). Transplant patients must also take immuno-suppresive prescriptions for the rest of their lives, to prevent their bodies from rejecting the foreign tissue. This weakens their immune response and opens the door to oppurtunistic infection. Because this technology uses the donor's own cells to produce new tissue, hostile immune response is no longer an issue, nor is blood typing or matching. If this technology proves to be as practically applicable as these scientists hope, it could revolutionize one of the more psychologically and physiologically traumatic fields of medicine (and could have applications in reconstructive cosmetic surgery as well).

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Comments
Lycoris

Lycoris

Toronto, ON
October 2005

NOV 14, 2005 11:06 AM

eeek Reminds me of Wil McCarthy's Queendom of Sol. With fax machines that can not only store people for printing out later, but can repair them, make them almost indestructible, even clone them.

I wonder if the technology could be used to create stem cells?

furnacedoor

furnacedoor

I'm lost
September 2003

NOV 14, 2005 11:07 AM

all your skin are prints to us!!!

PsychicGoldfish

PsychicGoldfish

HOPEFUL

Orono, ME

NOV 14, 2005 11:10 AM

The first integral step towards the day when I can print off a dronish army and take over the world!!!

daniofthedead

daniofthedead

Philadelphia, PA
June 2004

NOV 14, 2005 11:35 AM

i think this concept started coming into play about a year or two ago. atlaest thats when i first heard about it. werd.

Maraxia

Maraxia

United Kingdom
March 2005

NOV 14, 2005 12:28 PM

Finally. something that governments cant bitch and whine about the ethics of. Needless to say, they will try and clamp down on it though *rolls eyes*

fatlarry

fatlarry

Hillsboro, OR
October 2005

NOV 15, 2005 12:16 AM

Remember in starship troopers when that sadly handsome guy is getting his leg repaired? I always thought that would be a good idea...

But now I like this idea better... Bye bye carpet burn, I'll just print out a new layer of skin...

Plus I could change my tats every week or so.

BurningKrome

BurningKrome

San Jose, CA
April 2005

NOV 15, 2005 12:44 PM

God I love technology! No. I mean GOD I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!!

I can’t wait to see this technology in 20 years! Go out on Sat night, do a little brawling, take a coupe of jabs in a bad place, and just drive to your local “McOrgan center.”

“Yeah...I’ll have a kidney and a new penis to go. Oh, and could you supersize that?”

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