Every now and then a cultural and economic game-changing technology sneaks up on us. Who in 1987 would have predicted that 20 years later, the Internet would have completely transformed economics and mass communications?

I think that in the early part of this century that the technology that will really begin to work magic in the day-to-day lives of people and businesses is the technology of fabrication. Briefly, fabrication technology uses (relatively) cheap hardware to allow people and businesses to make stuff. That stuff is made-to-order and is produced very rapidly. 3D printers are already becoming very affordable for prototyping and making molds for custom parts.

But this fabricator blows me away. A 3d printer that can produce customized replacement organs using the patients own cells.

The 3D bio-printer allows scientists to place cells of almost any type into a desired 3D pattern. It includes two print heads, one for placing human cells, and the other for placing a hydrogel, scaffold, or support matrix. The cells used by the device need to be the cells of what is being regenerated – building an artery requires arterial cells for example. Because the patient’s own cells are used the new organ will not be rejected by the body. The printer fits inside a standard biosafety cabinet for sterile use.

Its creators say that one of the most complex challenges in the development of the printer was being able to repeatedly position the capillary tip, attached to the print head, to within microns. This was essential to ensure that the cells are placed in exactly the right position. A computer controlled, laser-based calibration system was developed to achieve the required repeatability.

The 3D bio-printers include a software interface that allows engineers to build a model of the tissue construct before the printer commences the physical constructions of the organs cell-by-cell using the automated, laser-calibrated print heads.

Tags: Fabrication, Technology

This entry was posted on December 29, 2009 at 11:28 am and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.