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Printing Organs

In a cool bit of convergent biotech, a project at the University of Missouri is experimenting with a method for "printing" organs based on a study of multicellular self-assembly. "The knowledge gained from these studies will serve as biological validation for new methods for building three-dimensional living structures of specific geometries....In the course of this project we anticipate that we will discover new principles of multicellular self-organization (morphogenesis, organogenesis), which in turn will enable us to develop functional biological structures for basic science purposes (e.g., in vitro studies of mechanisms of development and tumor formation), and applications such as targeted drug testing and delivery, and organ (module) replacement." According to Wired News, "they've made tubes similar to human blood vessels and sheets of heart muscle cells, printed in three dimensions on a special printer."

Here's how it works: A customized milling machine prints a small sheet of bio-paper. This "paper" is a variable gel composed of modified gelatin and hyaluronan, a sugar-rich material. Bio-ink blots -- each a little ball of cellular material a few hundred microns in diameter -- are then printed onto the paper. The process is repeated as many times as needed, the sheets stacked on top of each other.

Once the stack is the right size -- maybe two centimeters' worth of sheets, each containing a ring of blots, for a tube resembling a blood vessel -- printing stops. The stack is incubated in a bioreactor, where cells fuse with their neighbors in all directions. The bio-paper works as a scaffold to support and nurture cells, and should be eaten away by them or naturally degrade, researchers said.

jon posted this at 6:46 AM
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