Bio Printers

Virtual devices are exploding into every facet of human endeavor. A few years ago, who would have believed that computers would lead to such profound changes in our lives. They say that anything you can imagine can be achieved. Well.... someone imagined Bio Printers. The development of 3D bio printers has the magical potential of creating human organs.

Motivated by the battlefield injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan where 30% of wounds involve skin. Professor James Yoo and his group, from the Institute of Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, are developing a system that will print skin directly onto burn wounds,

The bio printer laser scanner first determines depth and area, then converts the scan to three dimensional images that calculates how many layers of skin cells are needed to be printed on the wound. The system, so far, has successfully printed skin patches 10cm sq on a pig.

Professor Hod Lipson, director of the Cornell University Computational Synthesis Laboratory, has successfully printed ears. They have been made of silicone gel rather than human ear cells. The Cornell team is also experimenting with bio print repairs to damaged animal bones, but there are technical challenges to overcome. Repairs to cartilage will be more easily achieved.

Bio printers are standard apparatus in bio-medical laboratories and numerous experiments to create arteries, hearts and other body parts can be seen on YouTube.