Why do they want to create artificial human tissue? To heal you, to put over 5 ton steel robot or to complete their research of their "Source"?
3D printing breakthrough that could revolutionise medicine: Researchers reveal new way to create artificial human tissue
- Radical ‘droplet’ printer could replace damaged cells
- Could also lead to new ways to deliver drugs directly to affected areas
3D printers could be used to make artificial human tissue to replace damaged cells, researchers say.
The printers use water and lipid molecules to form thousands of connected droplets able to perform cell functions in the bodies, according to a study by Oxford University published in the journal Science.
These printed ‘droplet networks’ could be used to replace damaged tissue or as a new method for delivering drugs to the body.
The revolutionary new technique can print human tissue via a series of ‘droplets’ – shown here measuring just 500 microns across
HOW THEY WORK
These printed ‘droplet networks’ could be the building blocks of a new kind of technology for delivering drugs to places where they are needed and potentially one day replacing or interfacing with damaged human tissues.
Because droplet networks are entirely synthetic, have no genome and do not replicate, they avoid some of the problems associated with other approaches to creating artificial tissues – such as those that use stem cells.
They can even mimic nerves, transmitting electric signals, the developers say.
The droplet networks are entirely synthetic, which means they avoid problems associated with other artificial tissues – such as stem cells, researcher said.
Professor Hagan Bayley of Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry, who led the research, said a network of 35,000 droplets had already been created in a prototype.
He said: ‘The research is at a very early stage but this is certainly a huge breakthrough.
“The printed structures can carry out the functions of tissues by creating a networks of tens of thousands connected droplets.
“The raw material is water and what is called lipid molecules, which protects the water and coats it.
‘We add chemicals and bio chemicals.
‘This changes the water. After all we humans are made of networks of water droplets.
