3-D Printing

Josh Spicer

Imagine a future in which a device that connected to a computer could print a solid object. A future, in which, we can have tangible goods as well as intangible services delivered to our desktops and into our homes via the Internet. A future where the everyday "atomization" of virtual objects into hard reality has turned the mass pre-production and stock-holding of a wide range of goods and spare parts into no more than an historical legacy. Such a future may sound like it is being plucked from the worlds of Star Trek. However, transporter devices that can instantaneously deliver us to remote locations may remain a fantasy, 3D printers capable of outputting physical objects such as plates, clothing, and even guns have been in both development and application for over three decades, and are now starting to present a whole host of new digital manufacturing capabilities. 3D printing may therefore soon do for manufacturing what computers and the Internet have already done for the creation, processing and storage of information.

The emerging process of 3-D printing, which uses computer-created digital models to create real-world objects, has produced everything from toys to jewelry to food.

Soon, however, 3-D printers may be spitting out something far more complex, and controversial: human organs.

For years now, medical researchers have been reproducing human cells in laboratories by hand to create blood vessels, urine tubes, skin tissue and other living body parts. Engineering full organs, with their complicated cell structures, is much more difficult. Enter 3-D printers, which because of their precise process can reproduce the vascular systems required to make such organs viable. Scientists are already using the machines to print tiny strips of organ tissue. While printing whole human organs for surgical transplants is still years away, the technology is rapidly developing. The idea of printing a human kidney or liver in a lab may seem incomprehensible, even creepy, but for many scientists in the field, bioprinting holds great promise. Authentic printed organs could be used for drug or vaccine testing, freeing researchers from less accurate methods such as tests on animals or on synthetic models. There's the hope that 3-D printers could someday produce much-needed organs for transplants. Americans are living longer, and as we get deeper into old age our organs are failing more. Some 18 people die in the United States each day waiting in vain for transplants because of a shortage of donated organs. I found a video that explain 3-D human printing in much more detail and it’s actually really interesting to watch.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/03/20/spc-vital-signs-3d-printing-grandfather.cnn.html

Bioprinting works like this: Scientists harvest human cells from biopsies or stem cells, then allow them to multiply in a petri dish. The resulting mixture, a sort of biological ink, is fed into a 3-D printer, which is programmed to arrange different cell types, along with other materials, into a precise three-dimensional shape. Doctors hope that when placed in the body, these 3-D-printed cells will integrate with existing tissues. The process already is seeing some success. Last year a 2-year-old girl in Illinois, born without a trachea, received a windpipe built with her own stem cells. The U.S. government has funded a university-led "body on a chip" project that prints tissue samples that mimic the functions of the heart, liver, lungs and other organs. The samples are placed on a microchip and connected with a blood substitute to keep the cells alive, allowing doctors to test specific treatments and monitor their effectiveness. This is an exciting new area of medicine. It has the potential for being a very important breakthrough. However, there are some ethical concerns. What happens when complex enhanced organs involving nonhuman cells are made? Who will control the ability to produce them? Who will ensure the quality of the resulting organs?" Bioprinted organs are also likely to be expensive, which could put them out of reach of all but the wealthiest patients. Will only the rich be able to afford it? Are we playing God? Despite all these concerns i think 3-D printing is a huge step in the right direction and i cant wait to see what the future holds.