By now you've probably heard of 3D printing.
From car parts and plastic toys to works of art and even desserts, 3D printing offers
endless possibilities in our increasingly D-I-Y world.
Perhaps one of the most exciting and promising of these
is the ability to print human tissue and organs.
It might sound like the stuff of the future, but as highlighted in the August issue of
MRS Bulletin, the era of 3D bioprinting is here.
And if researchers can work together to solve the major challenges facing this rapidly growing field
they could make organ and tissue engineering as easy as pushing a button.
By far the greatest challenge in printing living matter is making sure that matter stays alive
both during and after printing.
Cells thrive within a narrow range of temperature, pressure, and oxygen level
and must remain sterile.
Bioprinting experts must therefore ensure that the inside of their devices and,
more importantly, the inks that they print with provide a biofriendly environment.
For materials scientists, the issue represents an important design problem: giving liquid-loving
cells a happy home while making implants strong enough to keep their shape once in the body.
Researchers have devised several creative solutions to that problem—for example, using
biocompatible polymers called bioinks that gel when squeezed out of a printing nozzle.
But many other issues still remain.
For one, it's not entirely clear how all the forces felt by bioinks affect cell survival.
Or, for that matter, how cells themselves affect the mechanical and material properties
of bioinks and printed tissue.
And then, of course, there's cost.
Even when researchers understand these various structure-property relationships
will bioprinting be affordable?
Still, a future where organs such as liver, bone, and heart can be printed to order may
not be far away.
The articles gathered in this month's MRS Bulletin take a close look at how researchers
are tackling these and other issues as they vie to bring bioprinting into the mainstream.
To learn more about the current status and future of 3D bioprinting, register for the
MRS OnDemand webinar "3D Bioprinting of Organs and Organs-on-a-Chip"
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