Researchers looking to print living cells in 3D

Inkjet printers have long been used to print out all sorts of unusual goods, and while we've heard of scientists utilizing said technology to print stem cells, engineers are now exploring ways "to print 3D structures of cells." According to Paul Calvert, a materials scientist at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, printing out these cells in three dimensions "is like going from a black-and-white to a full-color [TV]," and he also states that moving the process forward could help "unravel the mysteries of cell-to-cell communication and, perhaps in the distant future, manufacture human organs from scratch." Notably, it was even suggested that the technique could potentially be used to "print out miniature organs for medical tests such as drug toxicity," and in an ideal world, to crank out "implantable human organs on demand."

[Revels @ Oct 15th 2007 8:22AM]

Such as:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rL6SmtQ3JOo

[bugmat @ Oct 15th 2007 9:04AM]

Sounds very cool and will be groundbreaking for cell culture labs!

[peterskruger @ Oct 15th 2007 9:34AM]

This has been in research since about 2003 or so. It's pretty cool how its done, when I was in college, i wrote my freshman biomedical engineering paper on this topic. Although, at that time I would have imagined the research would have been more progressed by now. The difficulty is in creating the "scaffolding" or blueprints that would allow a full organ to be constructed. Right now it seems limited to blood vessels and other similar things.

[Andir3.0 @ Oct 15th 2007 9:49AM]

Even cells are cheering on the PSP ... UMD! UMD! UMD!

[Joe P @ Oct 15th 2007 10:46AM]

"Notably, it was even suggested that the technique could potentially be used to "print out miniature organs for medical tests such as drug toxicity," and in an ideal world, to crank out "implantable human organs on demand.""

Additionally, researches stated it could be used to "print a miniature army of gremlins for some inter-office war fun."

[Mike @ Oct 15th 2007 12:43PM]

They've already been doing this at Clemson University in South Carolina

[Matthew Hilario @ Oct 15th 2007 1:01PM]

can somebody say akira?

[David @ Oct 15th 2007 1:29PM]

I wonder if it could print out ground beef for a burger? This could save lots of animals from the slaughter and even possibly feed more people. Even some vegetarians might be able to eat real beef again!

[SpatulaCity @ Oct 15th 2007 7:38PM]

Well, this sure is going to make Porn a whole lot more interesting. lol

[Nikita @ Oct 15th 2007 6:35PM]

a few organs have already been synthesized in vitro from a few stem cells. The first one was the liver. it was in scientific american few years ago. the team that grew the liver developed their own 3D support structure and whatnot.