Mar 12, 2010
Faster, Please: 3D Organ Printing
A new company called Organovo is ready to release the first commercially available 3d bio-printer this year.
The ability to make organs as they are needed would not only relieve suffering but also save lives. And that possibility may be closer with the arrival of the first commercial 3D bio-printer for manufacturing human tissue and organs.
The new machine, which costs around $200,000, has been developed by Organovo, a company in San Diego that specialises in regenerative medicine, and Invetech, an engineering and automation firm in Melbourne, Australia.
The promise of 3D organ printing is incredible. If you need a new organ, your doctor, hospital or a company “just take some of your blood and in about six weeks grow you a new one.”
Worried about contamination and mutant organs? You’re in luck. The new machine “fits inside a standard biosafety cabinet for sterile use” and ensures “that the cells are placed in exactly the right position” with “a computer controlled, laser-based calibration system to achieve the required repeatability.”
Wired posted a YouTube video that provides more information: