Printable organs

Using modified inkjet printers, scientists are producing three-dimensional living biological tissue. The printer cartridges are washed out and filled with a suspension of living cells and a "smart gel". Alternating patterns of the smart gel and living cells are printed using a standard print nozzle. The cells fuse together to form tissue, and tube formation has been demonstrated with ovarian hamster cells. When finished, the gel is cooled and washed away, leaving behind only the live cells.

The gel is heat sensitive - solidifying at 32 degrees celsius and liquifying at 20 degrees.

External links

* http://feed.proteinos.com/item/3820
* http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn3292
* http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/104525437/ABSTRACT
* http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=365711
* [http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://www2.umist.ac.uk/material/depment/department/posters04/SaundersR.pdf Saunders] (PDF)
* [http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://iospress.metapress.com/index/M1R7V0JFNP4148V6.pdf Organ printing: Fiction or science?]
* http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/ar.b.10025
* [http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q=http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nmat1092 photolabile hydrogel]
* [http://www.pharmacy.utah.edu/medchem/prestwich/Hyaluronan.html pictures]

Researchers:
* Vladmir Mironov http://cba.musc.edu/faculty/MironovV.htm
* Thomas Boland http://people.clemson.edu/~tboland/OP/
* Anthony Atala http://www1.wfubmc.edu/oprd/physdetail.htm?PhysicianID=843
* Anna Gutowska (developed the thermo sensitive smartgel)