[Murg] Printing human skin and bones

[rak at minduploading.org]

Hi all,

This is not directly brain related, but deserves a mention because of the 
conceptual change that the technology brings - manufacturing human parts.
In the long-term, think: Printing cortical tissue.

Cheers,
  Randal

manchester news

http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/news/s/143/143230_tailormade_skin_from_ink_printer.html

Wednesday, 19th January 2005
Tailor-made skin from 'ink' printer
Rebecca Camber

SCIENTISTS at Manchester University have developed a printer able to
produce human skin to help wounds heal.

It could be used on patients who have suffered burns and
disfigurements. With more research it could even replace broken bones.

Using the same principle as an ink-jet printer, experts are able to
take skin cells from a patient's body, multiply them, then print out a
tailor-made strip of skin, ready to sew on to the body. The wound's
dimensions are entered into the printer to ensure a perfect fit.

The printer, which takes up an area equivalent to three filing
cabinets, could see the end of traditional skin and bone grafts.

Scientists at the university's School of Materials have already
successfully created skin and believe they will soon be able to create
bone and cartilage.

Similar printers are being developed in Japan and the US, but the
Manchester team is hoping to beat its competitors by being the first
to start clinical trials on patients.

Team leader Professor Brian Derby says that they are the only team in
the world to work out how to print human cells without destroying them
in the process. He said: "There is a fighting chance that something
could come of this in five years if there were clinical trials.

"It's not like printing a sheet of paper. We can print a few
millimetres in depth and build it up layer-upon-layer until, in
principle, we could produce bone fragments the size of a golf ball.

"It is difficult for a surgeon to reconstruct any complex disfiguring
of the face using CT scans, but with this technology we are able to
build a fragment which will fit exactly. We can place cells in any
designed position to grow tissue or bone."

For the last two years, researchers have been testing the printer
using human cell samples taken from patients having hip implants at
the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The cells are put into a special printer ink liquid and artificially
multiplied.

Then, the printer prints the cells on to a plastic surface, which acts
like a scaffold to support the cells. Experts say that the plastic
could then be surgically attached to the damaged part of the body and
the plastic would dissolve naturally, allowing the body to use the
strip of cells to repair the injury.

The printer would revolutionise current treatments, which are based on
grafting skin or bone from other parts of the body or replacing broken
bones with metal plates. These carry carry a risk of scarring and
possible rejection by the body.

But Professor Derby said that they are still working out how to print
cells on to the 3D plastic scaffolds to produce bone or cartilage.

He said: "In theory, you could print the scaffolding to create an
organ in a day, but we are not quite there yet."

_______________________________________________________________________
RANDAL A. KOENE
rak.minduploading.org
_______________________________________________________________________