Bio-Printing
At the press of a button you can choose to print a document or an organ. Is this a typing error or is it future brilliance?!
“Fancy a new kidney? I’ll just print one off for you.” A brief glance at how future medicine for the next generation could be. With the invention of the ingenious Bio printer, this could be done! It is certainly creating a buzz in science and medical institutions globally.
3D printing is fast becoming a massive part of manufacturing and fabrication all over the world. Scientists and technological experts are able to make a three dimensional solid object from a digital on screen model. This is achieved using an additive process where different materials i.e. liquid, powder or sheet material are added to a printer, which then come together to create layers as thin as 100 micrometres, even 16 micrometres in some cases. Millions of these layers are fused together to create the end product as designed on the computer. The final product and drawing are almost identical.
Lately there has been a lot of research in ‘Bio-printing’ which is another extraordinary advancement in technology. Printers are able to create bodily tissues, cells and structures such as scaffolds for cells to grow on or be printed onto, which gives the end tissue the right shape.
3D Printing was first introduced in the 1980’s. Printers then were large and very expensive; and were limited in what they could do. However in 1984, Charles Hull, co-founder of ‘3D Systems’ printed the first 3D object created from digital data. These objects made, were of materials such a plastic and metal to create spare parts for machinery etc. 3d printers were only used to print these type of products for the next 15 years until scientific research started and the beginnings of a 3d biological printer was to be built and tested.
It was after the millennium, in 2002 to be exact when the first biological printer was invented and scientists found they were able to print tissues such as a
“Fancy a new kidney? I’ll just print one off for you.” A brief glance at how future medicine for the next generation could be. With the invention of the ingenious Bio printer, this could be done! It is certainly creating a buzz in science and medical institutions globally.
3D printing is fast becoming a massive part of manufacturing and fabrication all over the world. Scientists and technological experts are able to make a three dimensional solid object from a digital on screen model. This is achieved using an additive process where different materials i.e. liquid, powder or sheet material are added to a printer, which then come together to create layers as thin as 100 micrometres, even 16 micrometres in some cases. Millions of these layers are fused together to create the end product as designed on the computer. The final product and drawing are almost identical.
Lately there has been a lot of research in ‘Bio-printing’ which is another extraordinary advancement in technology. Printers are able to create bodily tissues, cells and structures such as scaffolds for cells to grow on or be printed onto, which gives the end tissue the right shape.
3D Printing was first introduced in the 1980’s. Printers then were large and very expensive; and were limited in what they could do. However in 1984, Charles Hull, co-founder of ‘3D Systems’ printed the first 3D object created from digital data. These objects made, were of materials such a plastic and metal to create spare parts for machinery etc. 3d printers were only used to print these type of products for the next 15 years until scientific research started and the beginnings of a 3d biological printer was to be built and tested.
It was after the millennium, in 2002 to be exact when the first biological printer was invented and scientists found they were able to print tissues such as a