Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

My Printer's Jammed With... Skin Cells?

by Matthew Zuras on April 16, 2010 at 09:10 AM

skin cell printer
We wrote about Organovo's game-changing human tissue printer back in January, and the company's endeavor has gained a ton of attention since then. But organs are rather complex chunks of meat, and we've got a while to go before we see freshly printed livers shooting out of tissue machines in operating rooms. Skin, by comparison, is relatively simple stuff. Researchers at the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine have teamed with researchers at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and have developed a human skin printer out of a regular old inkjet.

Since traditional inkjet cartridges dispense a drop of ink roughly the size of a skin cell, it doesn't take much, tech-wise, to turn your old HP Deskjet into a Frankenstein-style life machine. (Of course, technicians thoroughly clean and sanitize old cartridges before loading them with cellular matter.) The team has had success so far with mice, but have yet to move to human trials. The potential for this kind of device, however, is enormous. The Armed Forces is interested because battle casualties frequently include severe burns, and those soldiers may have little untouched skin from which to graft. Check out the video after the break to see an explanation by one of the researchers himself.

The video somewhat oversimplifies the process, as it glosses over the time needed to culture cells -- time that most burn patients don't have to waste. That being said, doctors would most likely look to donor cells for their skin-ink. A 3-D scanner would then map the topography of the burn site, and fill in the "gaps" with keratinocytes or fibroblasts straight from the printer. While this isn't exactly the opening from 'The Fifth Element,' it's not too far off, either. If you are unlucky enough to acquire third-degree burns a decade from now, you may find one of these printers hovering over your hospital bed, saving your limbs and life. [From: Singularity Hub]

Tags: ArmedForcesInstituteOfRegenerativeMedicine, biotech, biotechnology, health, HumanTissuePrinter, inkjet, medical, organovo, SkinGraft, SkinPrinter, top, wake forest, WakeForest, WakeForestInstituteForRegenerativeMedicine

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular