Scientists Use 3-D Printing Technology to Create Living Human Body Parts GeoBeats News
go to original February 20, 2016

Three-dimensional printing has advanced into the realm of human body parts. Researchers with the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine have announced in a recent study that they have developed a special 3-D printer that is able to produce what they call “living tissue structures.”

Specifically, the parts they have been able to create through this method are ears, jawbones, and muscles. The key to Wake Forest’s system is their printer’s ability to extrude a mixture of hydrogels, a substance with human cells in it, and materials which provide structure but eventually dissolve. As such, it allows for the formation of sponge-like channels which can be used to get nutrients to interior cells; in previous efforts, the cells would often starve and die.

According to the press release, the structures were implanted in animals, they “matured into functional tissue and developed a system of blood vessels.” It goes on to state that the results are promising for the potential viability in humans.

Related: Mexican University Pushes Development of New Low Cost 3D Printed Skull Implant (Mexico News Network)

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