Scientists unveil bio-inkjet printer for stem cells, creating bone-type cells

A bioengineering team from Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh School of Medicine have presented a way to employ techniques based on inkjet printers to help stem cells become bone tissue cells. The team uses a set of inkjet-style streams to shoot little bits of proteins (like droplets of printer ink) on top of nurturing proteins (think of them as the paper) in a certain pattern. Then the team drops stems cells on top of the whole concoction, which depending on what bio-ink was used, can turn into bone-type cells or potentially even other cell types. While human trials are still a ways off, let's just hope that bio-ink cartridges aren't nearly as much of a scam as regular inkjet cartridges are when they reach that point.

[Via NewScientist]

[Cardbored @ Dec 11th 2006 10:05PM]

too bad it'll probably never be legalized by the US :-(

[Nick @ Dec 12th 2006 12:19AM]

I'm going to venture a guess and say they are using mesenchymal stem cells not ebryotic stem cells, so it should be perfectly legal in the US

[mitch @ Dec 11th 2006 10:12PM]

That's just neat.

[myscrnnm @ Dec 11th 2006 10:58PM]

Cool, I've seen something like this before, except they made a nose.

[arch @ Dec 11th 2006 11:27PM]

RUN KIDS RUN!!!11111 TEH RELIGIOUS FOOLS ARE COMING TO IMPEDE HUMAN ADVANCEMENT IN MEDICINE (teh demon doctors yousss111!! GOD WANTS THEM TO DIE YOUUUSSS!!!!!!) AND HELP OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE DYING!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eagle Eye Jones @ Dec 12th 2006 7:58AM]

As a religious person, it is hard for me to support stem cell research. I do not and God does not wish that any shall parish, but do not want to see innocent lives destroyed for the sake of another. The babies they use to get the stem cells are killed, and killing is against God's way. So your comment "GOD WANTS THEM TO DIE" is not only foolish, but 110% wrong. He just doesn't want to see infanticide in order for Jim Bob to get a replacement jaw, because he chewed too much tobacco. He also doesn't want to see anyone get cloned. The second we try to compete with God will be the last thing we as a human race will do. So all I have to say to you arch is may God have mercy on your soul.

[Stephzor @ May 4th 2008 9:20PM]

At the god believer who answered before me...

If you love and trust your god that much, do you really think he needs a retard to prevent other people from doing resarch on/using stem cells? I think your god is intelligent and strong enough to prevent all that if he does not like it.
Enough said.

[Joshua @ Dec 11th 2006 11:32PM]

It's like the 5th element movie...

[Kyle @ Dec 12th 2006 12:16AM]

Embryonic stem cell research is so wrong, adult stem cell research on the other hand is fine, since no baby ever gets killed from it.

[captain obvious @ Dec 12th 2006 12:49AM]

Sorry Kyle,

do your research, no "baby" gets killed. Embryonic stem cell research uses the left over "waste material" (embryos) from invitro-fertilization, that would otherwise be discarded. Only about 10% of embryos used in fertility programs are adopted, the rest are discarded as medical waste.

I would much rather have embryos contribute to giving and saving life (such as stem cell research), than being thrown away as waste material.

[Micah @ Dec 12th 2006 7:06AM]

Yeah, funny how we've found over 70 cures for various diseases using adult stem cells (more coming soon,) but not ONE using embryonic stem cells. NOT ONE.

Oh, and Capitan Obvious, that "waste material" sure does kill babies. What the heck do you think embryos are? It's waste material because scientists cannot use it for anything, but the embryos certainly could have formed a baby if they were left alone.
YOU are the one who has not does his research.

[Cardbored @ Dec 12th 2006 7:57AM]

so you rather have a baby thats gunna die just be thrown away instead of it being used to help further human and medical knowledge?? btw there's very little cure from embryonic stem cells because ignorant people like you (and George Bush) have so many restrictions that we're falling behind in the rest of the world.

[Alejandro @ Dec 12th 2006 8:07AM]

You are right that they will be thrown away and that is terrible too. The short term that you mention does not pose as many problems as long term adoption of such policy.

College women selling embryos to science to pay for school, drug addicts getting money to support their habits, etc.

[TeddyN @ Dec 12th 2006 8:05AM]

Actually, it's not illegal in the U.S.; Bush vetoed the (bipartisan) bill which would have opened up more stem cells for use by science. So there are still stem cells open for scientific research, but they are inferior to newer ones because they contain defects from age (these are stem cells that have been around for 10 years or so)

Now to address the arguments of the anti stem cell research people.

Just because no single cure has been found with stem cells to date doesn't mean that we should abandon it. There are without any doubt good reasons why scientists believe stem cells to be more promising for research. They are not, as all of you would charactarize them, bloodthirsty baby-killers- they are perhaps more ethical people then yourselves. To you, the suffering of a living, feeling human being is equal to the supposed suffering involved in the termination of a stem cell, which contains fewer cells than the BRAIN OF A FLY. Adult stem cells have already decided what type of cell they are going to develop into (eg. bone marrow, skin, toenail etc.) whereas STEM cells have not specialized yet.

The criteria that they are 'potential human beings' is equally preposterous. With advances in science, any cell could 'potentially' grow into a human being. So when you scratch your nose, or have an injection at the doctors office, or fall over and scratch your knee on the sidewalk, do you feel guilty of the willful slaughter of thousands and thousands of 'babies'?

Not only all this, but as a practical issue, think about what happens to these stem cells otherwise. Do you think there is demand for adopting stem cells? No. They will simply languish in some lab, barred by the government from being used, forever a stem cell until inevitable destruction, without having contributed to human knowledge in the slightest.

Stem Cell research advocates are not bloodthirsty demons. They are simply people with better ethics (I do not think ethics is subjective. There is 'truth' in the matter). Unless you have in your mind religious concepts of the 'soul' entering the zygote at conception, then it is pretty easy to see why stem cell research is important for humanity.

(By the way, if you subscribe to that belief about the 'soul', what happens when that zygote later splits to make twins? Do twins only have half a soul each??)

[Alejandro @ Dec 12th 2006 8:10AM]

"Adult stem cells have already decided what type of cell they are going to develop into (eg. bone marrow, skin, toenail etc.) whereas STEM cells have not specialized yet."

That is what they HAD thought, but now they are finding that they can use mature blood cells as stem cells to develop other tissues. Read it in this month's Popular Science.

[Mike @ Dec 12th 2006 8:16AM]

wasnt this posted before???

[TeddyN @ Dec 12th 2006 8:26AM]

The thing that would be donated to science is the blastocyst.

This consists of 50-150 cells. As I said, that is far fewer cells than the brain of a fly.

This is what it looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Blastocyst.jpg

Alejandro, you touch on some other issues; people who have trouble affording college and drug addiction. These are other serious problems in our society, and forgoing stem cell research and all of its promising potential benefits isn't going to make those problems go away. What will help those things is government programs aimed at them. Curing those social ills doesn't have to come at the expense of scientific research.

Oh and one important thing:

The blastocysts used for creating ESC lines are derived from eggs that were fertilized in in vitro fertilization clinics but never implanted in a woman�s uterus.

Hence, it is the egg that is DONATED. No more is this a social ill then sperm banks or giving blood.

[TeddyN @ Dec 12th 2006 8:36AM]

Alejandro:
Do you have a link to an article about that? I didn't find it on Popular Science website.

Even if it's true though, the fact that my view dictates that there shouldn't be any issue with the use of stem cells means that I would leave it up to the scientists to decide which to use.

[codywatson @ Dec 12th 2006 10:56AM]

So... what kind of DPI do I need?

[blackfeather @ Dec 12th 2006 3:06PM]

So does anyone have a hi-res 3D image of Milla Jovovich I can print with this?

[arch @ Dec 12th 2006 4:10PM]

sry eagle eye. im not worried about my soul. since god in my books doesnt exist, and is impossible to. sorry. but ignorance to something the world doesnt know about the universe doesnt give the answer god. and guess what?! the world ISNT 5000 years old. i guess everyones going to hell for not believing something in the bible!! oh noes!!!!

here are the facts. clones have already been done to sheep (and i guarantee you that in some lab the government has done it to humans aswell). death sentence one to human race that never happened.

30 armageddons that never happened. and never will. utter stupidity. contradiction to god willing to kill us.

also by your potential human being logic, im going to now go masterbate and cause mass homicide, to 500 milion potential human biengs. hey wait a second. thats also a sin, i guess theres another contradiction. when sperm goes into the vagina only one out of hundreds of millions gets used. millions die for one. mass murder for one!! THAT CHILD MUST BE THE OMEN!!!!!11

GTFO all you religious dolts. there are more than 40 different religions in this world. christianity isnt right.
let human research move on. you guys want to see the light? so do i. except ill see it when deseases are gone from this world.