Build human parts with ... printers!

Thanks to a printer, spray . cell on a biological paper, it is soon possible to create the kind of mechanism as desired. This US research project opens a promising prospect.

Printer parts people

Chaired by Gabor Forgacs, professor of biological physics, University of Missouri, Columbia, and a $ 5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the researchers of the three universities are making ink and paper. Biology can . print human organs!

So far, people have succeeded in creating tubes like human blood vessels and leaves of cardiac muscle cells in three dimensions with a special printer. According to Glenn D. Prestwich, Utah University professor, collaborating on bio-paper production, in about 5-10 years, people will be able to print human organs.

The first is to study the ability to assemble biological biology in the laboratory, such as the development of the fetus. DNA and RNA molecules have been printed on a flat surface, and then tried to print more with a cell 'pile'. The process is as follows: first create a small piece of biological paper, a mixture of gélatine and hyaluronique acid (cell-covering component, which helps it move and reproduce).

Bio ink is a cell foam, a few hundred microns in size (1 / 1,000mm) and then printed on paper (see diagram). People print many times to stack on top of each other until they reach the desired height. For example, with a 2-cm-long tube, people print 2cm thick leaves. Each leaf is a scarf, section of the tube. This stack of blocks will be put into the incubator, so that the cells blend together and multiply, grow.

Biological paper only acts as a flank to connect and nourish cells. Gradually it will annihilate itself when the organ is formed. Professor Forgacs said: ' Printing each scarf on a biological leaf takes less than 2 seconds, but it takes a week for the cells to blend together. We were able to directly print blood vessels '.

Prof. Gabor Forgacs

According to Helen Lu, head of Columbia University's Department of Biomaterials, mechanical printing may become a reality in the near future. However, she asserts that scientists must also control other parameters accurately, such as the mechanism of blood vessel formation under the skin. It is impossible to just insert it into the body and brush it off . done! Researchers who know difficulties are waiting for us. Forgacs rejects statements about the future of this technique.

Professor Suwan Jayasinghe's team in London was the first to print rat brain cells. This technique applies to humans to allow the replacement of damaged areas of the brain by "molding" the cell at will! But to print it, ink must be living cells of only a few microns in size while the current ink size is more than 1mm.

British scientists used the technique of "electronic inkjet - hydrodynamic", which means creating a very strong voltage for the solution containing the cell when it comes out of the nozzle. The charge of the solution will work with the magnetic field located behind the needle tip. The liquid will be dispersed into extremely fine particles when it touches the biological paper.

Although the affected cell of the electric field is up to 30,000 volts in a distance of 1.5cm and is unaffected, it must be considered for a long time to see if it is really safe. Professor Brian Derby, of the University of Manchester, said: ' The important issue in this technique is to find out which types of cells can print three-dimensional space that can survive for a considerable long time .'

DINH CONG THANH