Bioprinting

The future of regenerative medicine

By: Alexis Jerez - José Sun

    3D printing is one of the wonders of modern engienering. This technology  has become really  important for industrial purposes and manufacture task. By using polimer printheads it has been possible to develop new structures for construction, to make more efficiente the process of scupture and to invent more flexible materials for prosthesis.

    But this technology has gone far beyond to the point where it has been possible to apply it to the biological and medical areas, by creating artificial tissue and organs. You may be asking how, well it is possible thanks to a biotechnology process known as cellular micropossition in which the engineers extract stem cells to make a biotint to create a new tissue. 

    By applying this technique scientists have replicated tumors to study the effectiveness of different medicines against cancerous cell. As well they have been able to develop epidermic tissue and cartilage to attend pacients who has suffered burns or accidents that have damaged their meniscus. One of the greatest achievements of bioprinting has been constructing a mini funtional hearth and lungs. Even though, there has been tests to try to make a human size hearth, as well as lungs and kidneys, it has been impossible. 

    This is a very promising technology because bioprinting would greatly reduce the deficit of organs for transplanting. This is really important because there is a lack of donors in most countries. For example here in Costa  Rica there is less than 28.6 % of people who has a donor document. Another advantage of bioprinting is that this technology could reduce the rejection or incompatibility that occurs in organ transplants, since we can take the cultured cells from the same patient and thus ensure that they will not be rejected by the body after the surgery.

    As mentioned above, there is still a long way to go to make possible the realization of this technology in human organ transplants. However, it is an innovative technology and could save the lives of thousands of patients.