Kinko's for Kidneys: 3D Printing Your Own Body Parts

[n2doc]

by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 12.22.09

3D printing to order is a regular subject on TreeHugger; we love the idea of making things when you need them, where you need them. And soon you will be able to order up body parts, at a sort of Ponoko for pancreas. Now people sit on waiting lists, hooked up to expensive equipment while they wait for donors and fly body parts all over the world; soon you will order them up fresh and hot. Perhaps, like Philip K. Dick did, we might even call them artif-orgs.

Organovo is trying to build "tissue on demand", building 3D printers that work with living cells.

"By marrying a knowledge of biophysics and cell biology with the precision of computer aided design and high precision deposition, we can recreate the microarchitecture of even the most complex human tissue. By precisely placing cells with an organ printer, and providing them with the proper natural developmental cues, the cells do exactly what they do in nature: they self assemble into fully formed, functional tissue."

They have just taken delivery of their first commercial printers from Australian manufacturer Invetech.

more:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/kinkos-for-kidneys.php

[Occulus]

1. Want.

Badly want.

This would be remarkable if it were shown to work.

[endless october]

2. i bet the refills are cheaper than inkjet.

lol

but this is neat technology. i read about this about a year ago. hope they can make it work.

[Orsino]

3. I can't wait for the increase-your-liver spam. n/t

[silverweb]

4. I was going to post this yesterday and got sidetracked.

Thanks for beating me to it.

They're already using the 3D printer for _other things_.

I'm waiting for the day when I can say to my personal home replicator, "Tea. Earl Grey." :D

[Posteritatis]

5. "In a disgraceful example of verbing.." Hee. (nt)

[silverweb]

6. Yeah... but *does it work* ?

:D