8 Cutting Edge Bio Printers

Need a new kidney, liver, or perhaps a new bladder? Then look no further than the fascinating and rapidly developing world of bio printing! It’s claimed that, with this technology, you can grow an organ of your choice in 6 weeks using just 10cc’s of your own blood. So what exactly is bio printing? Well, in very basic terms, it’s the use of 3D inkjet technology to print bio-ink (cells) onto bio-paper (a variable gel composed of modified gelatin and hyaluronan), which is then cultivated to form living tissue.

Though recent progress in this field has been astonishing, it’s still early days; hence, there is only one commercially available bio printer in the world. The publishing of animal testing results in the next few years will be critical in revealing the efficacy of bio printed tissue as well as its future potential.

In the meantime, there are a number of prototypes and modified inkjet printers being used by medical researchers to feast our gadget-hungry brains on. They display some of the most innovative and experimental uses of printing technology ever seen.

Read the full article at: http://techcityinc.com/2010/02/01/8-cutting-edge-bio-printers/