3D
printing is currently the main innovation driver in many areas such as
manufacturing, art, engineering, medicine and education. Due to the recent
advances in this area it became possible to combine biocompatible materials,
cells and supporting components into complex 3D functional living tissues.
Today 3D bioprinting is being applied to regenerative medicine in order to
supply for the need of tissues and organs suitable for transplantation. However
in comparison to non-biological printing 3D bioprinting includes additional
challenges such as the choice of materials, cell types, growth and
differentiation factors as well as technical challenges related to the
sensitivities of living cells and tissue construction. Addressing these issues
requires complex approach with the integration of engineering, biomaterials
science, cell biology, physics and medicine. Remarkably 3D bioprinting has
already been used for generation and transplantation of several tissues (multilayered
skin, bone, vascular grafts, tracheal splints, heart tissues and cartilaginous
structures) as well as development of high-throughput 3D-bioprinted tissue
models for research, drug discovery and toxicology.
Currently
we are facing a major crisis in healthcare as our lifespan increases and so is
the demand for organ transplantation, whereas the number of the organs
available for the transplantation is clearly insufficient to provide for
existing needs. 3D bio printing can indeed be an elegant solution.
In
this brilliant TED talk Anthony Atala is discussing current challenges and
advances in 3D printing of human organs.
S
V Murphy, A Atala 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs Nature Biotechnology
2014
Photo credit http://www.3ders.org/articles/20120629-future-of-medicine-3d-printing-new-organs.html
Photo credit http://www.3ders.org/articles/20120629-future-of-medicine-3d-printing-new-organs.html
