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.
1. Organovo
There are only two companies in serious contention for domination of the rapidly developing world of bio printing. The current leader, Organovo, has recently become the first to release a commercially available product, in association with Invatech. This product is a 3D bio printer with a software interface which allows engineers to build a model of a tissue construct before real organs are printed, cell-by-cell, using laser-calibrated print heads. Organovo says that this technology can work across all tissue and cell types, proving to be of great potential benefit to any patient in need of an organ transplant, eliminating any risk of rejection.
2. Tengion
Organovo’s only real competitor, Tengion, has an ace card up its sleeve, as it holds most of the patents and legal rights to exploit the technology developed by the most successful bio printing scientist to date, Dr Anthony Atala. His lab has grown a variety of human parts including blood vessels, heart valves and bladders, all using bio printing. Based on the same 3D print technology that Organovo uses, Tengion’s prototype printer has already produced several bladders which have been successfully transplanted into humans.
The Tissue Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo Hospital has been developing 3D inkjet technology to print artificial bone. Using a computer modelling system which takes X-ray and CT scan data from patients, bones are printed using ordinary 3D printing, substituting ink for a water-based polymer and paper for thin layers of alpha-tricalcium phosphate. Accurate to 1mm, the bones are said to be ten times stronger than conventional artificial bone. If testing continues to be a success, this technology will be made commercially available in 2010.
Based at Osaka University, Japan, Professor Nakamura was one of the first to recognise the potential for inkjet technology to print human cells, back in 2003. Now able to print tissue tubes similar to human blood vessels, he estimates it will take him about another 20 years before he’s able to print a working heart! Now working closely with Epson, Nakamura has stated he has no intention of printing creatures with awareness (that’s a relief!) and is wholly dedicated to producing replacement organs for those without a matching donor.
As yet the only researchers to successfully grow different tissues simultaneously using inkjet technology, the team at Carnegie Mellon University uses the stem cells of mice to produce both muscle and bone tissue in the same dish. The next step is to investigate bio-ink patterns for other tissue types that occur naturally in the body. The hope is that this technology can one day be used to repair various tissues at the same time, providing a particular benefit to those who suffer from joint problems and conditions such as muscular dystrophy, which causes tissue damage.
Gabor Forgacs of the University of Missouri-Columbia has teamed up with Sciperio, an advanced technology development company, to produce printers which, so far, have been able to print human blood vessels and sheets of human heart cells. This work started as a means of understanding how embryos develop using biological self-assembly, but has opened up opportunities for huge advances in stem cell research. According to Forgacs, there are lots of difficult questions still to be answered, but the potential for building whole organs is very real. They are confident that they will be able to print livers and kidneys within five to ten years.
Bio printing since 2004, Thomas Boland has focused on printing hard tissue for applications like jawbone reconstruction. Now able to print soft tissue, he is at the forefront of bio printing development. He attains precision placement of cells by filling an empty inkjet cartridge with hydrogel (a material with similar properties to tissue) and another inkjet cartridge with cells. The printing is accomplished in the same way as with colour photographs, activating hydrogel and cells alternatively to build an image.
8. The Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC)
The Palo Alto Research Centre has years of experience developing piezoelectric inkjet printing for Xerox and has recently created specialised piezoelectric technology for use in bio printing. It claims that its inkjet technology is faster, of higher resolution, of greater scalability and more customisable than that of its competitors. There is, however, very little information available on PARC’s developments, so we’ll have to wait and see if their claims materialise into a commercially viable product.
About the Author
Tom has always held a fascination for the latest technological advancement, particularly in gadgets and computing hardware. He works as a writer for a company specialising in printing accessories such as Epson genuine ink cartridges, toner and paper. You can read more of his writing at CreativeCloud where he writes about print design, technology and the arts.
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