Regenerative Medicine: 3D Bioprinting

Tissue engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field that uses principles from engineering, biology and chemistry in an effort towards tissue regeneration. The main draw of tissue engineering is the regeneration of a patient’s own tissues and organs free from low biofunctionality and poor biocompatibility and serious immune rejection. As medical care continues to improve and life expectancy continues to grow, organ shortages become more problematic.(Manufacturing living things) According to organdonor.gov, a patient is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes and an average of 18 people die everyday waiting for an organ donation. The “nirvana” of tissue engineering is to replace the need for organ donation altogether. This could be achieved using scaffolding from

The field of bioprinting, using 3D printing technology for producing live cells with extreme accuracy, could be the answer to many of the problems we as humans face in the medical field. It could be the end to organ waiting lists and an alternative for organ transplants. In 3D printing technology lies the potential to replace the testing of new drugs on animals. However, the idea of applying 3 dimensional printing to the health industry is still quite new and yet to have a major impact. Manufacturing working 3D organs remains an enormous challenge, but in theory could solve major issues present today.

In a study conducted through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on “average 79 people will receive an organ each day; however, an average of 22 people die each day” waiting for transplants that cannot take place because of the shortage of donated organs (U.S. D.H.H.S). The average amount of patients waiting for an organ can reduce to zero with the continued development of 3-D printers. 3-D printing is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The digital file is uploaded onto a computer software, and then the 3-D printer prints the digital file out onto different materials. The materials include plastic, resin, nylon, sandstone. The finish products become replicas of the digital file, and what was an idea is now a reality. Therefore, 3-D printers will one day be the future of organ transplants because over the past twenty years the technology industry has rapidly grown into the focal point in society. From advancement in communication, to the medical field, science and technology has shaped this world today. Thus, the American Government should invest more money into the medical field budget because the research conducted on new technology (3-D Printers) leads to more lives saved, and expands the opportunity of future medical breakthroughs.

As of 2016, 81.8% of the organs people are waiting for are kidneys (Organ Donation Statistics). Morally, the stem cells that would be taken for printing or replication should be used with consent, meaning they are not taken from a baby, alive or deceased. Of course, extensive research would have to be done before using 3-D printed organs for transplants and be FDA approved, but if people are desperate enough to turn to the black-market, using those people for clinical trials would be more productive and actually

In the past, the only way to replace diminished cells, tissues, and organs was from organ transplantation. An organ donor was needed, and the tissues would be surgically removed from the donated body and placed into the recipient. Due to the current research being conducted, it is believed that tissue engineering and organ printing can contribute to the process of improving and saving lives.

It's an exciting idea, but scary at the same time. A lot of people lose their lives because they can't find a suitable organ donor match, or the waiting list is too long. This would be a great option to grow organs and save the lives of those facing this peril. My concern though is host vs graft disease and how this can be mitigated.

My exploration of this topic led me to an article on HuffingtonPost.com. The article is “How 3D Printing Could End The Deadly Shortage of Donor Organs” by Macrina Cooper-White. In said article,

In the United States, 122,737 patients are on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) list that are in need of lifesaving organs. With the current UNOS system, nearly 3,300 patients are expiring every year waiting for kidney transplants, let alone the other organs needed (Foundation, 2014). The length of time and money the process takes to procure an organ from a cadaver could be nearly done away with using bioengineered organs rather than procurement. Forms of Bioengineering are done with the use of matrices alone in which the body’s natural regenerative properties correct the issue, or using matrices embedded with undifferentiated cells. With the use of Bioengineering organs of one’s own, stem cell onto matrices could reduce or eliminate the use of immunosuppressant. Bioengineering organs can change the health care by reducing the cost of care, shortening the wait for transplantation, and extending the life of the recipient. Results Many of the patients with end-stage organ failure were going untreated or minimal treatment due to the lack of insurance. In 2010 that changed when President Obama signed the health care reform act, which is expanding coverages and limiting the growth in health care cost while reforming the delivery and insurance system. Prior to the Health Care Reform Act, individuals, that had an illness could not change jobs due the fact of being ineligible for

In the future, the technology will be widely accepted since it can be used to create complete organ, to test newly developed drugs on manufactured cells instead of animals and human cell, to imprint cells directly onto a human body, thus reducing the wait time for organ transplantation, and save time and cost associated with drug research. An absolutely favorable position of customized organs is designing organs utilizing a patient 's own particular cells. With this methodology, there would be no issues with dismissal, and patients wouldn 't need to take the powerful anti-rejection medications that are presently required (Cooper-White, 2015). According to the Organovo company, the formation of a suitable liver is a crunch second for the bio-printing and drug industry since it demonstrates 3D printed tissue can be preserved successfully for a sufficient time to test the impacts of medications on it or insert it in a human body where it can further mature (Mearian,2013).

Yokohama City University has taken stem cell research far. They took liver buds from human skin, and reprogrammed them into the embryonic state, regrowing a mini, functioning liver. Many other universities have also done similar things, creating mini hearts, stomachs, thymi, and other organs. Though these are small scale models, they work, and in the future could take us to creating life sized organs that we can use. If this was done, it would be huge for the human race. There would be no

With the very limited supply of organs, 3D printing creates functioning organs without a donation from a living organism. The definition of 3D printing from Charles W. Hull, the inventor of 3D systems, states that “...thin layers of a material that can be cured with ultraviolet light were sequentially printed in layers to form a solid 3D structure” (Murphy & Atala 773). The sheer narrow sheets play a vital role in bioprinting. They allow the printers to develop functional, layering individual cells, proteins, and an extracellular matrix. The three basic types of 3D printing include biomimicry, independent self- assembly, and miniature tissue blocks. The creation of the 3D structure creates all the difference between these types of printing. Three dimensional structure approaches include, creating exact duplicates of the cells and tissues with extensive knowledge, using a developing embryo as a template or using microscopic tissues to assemble into a larger developed tissue (Kalaskar). In other words, all these paths to bioprinting end up with a 3D structure but require different knowledge and materials. They all contain their own sets of challenges.

Bioprinting, three-dimensional printing of tissues, will have a positive impact in the medical field through assisting patients in need of transplants and scientists in drug development without the use of humans or animals. Bioprinting will evolve as time goes on, facing legal and ethical questions in the process.

It has even been theorized human immortality is a reachable goal through this method of replacing organs. Even more astonishing, it is estimated to be reached in our lifetimes. This is possible by using the same concept involved in automobiles and applying it to humans. When a car breaks down, it is possible to replace or fix the part. So why would it not be possible to do the same with organs? Well in most cases it does not work because the human body rejects the organs. It would be different if we

In the past two decades, 3-D printing has grown from a “niche manufacturing process” to a $2.7 billion industry, responsible for the fabrication of all sorts of things: toys, jewelry, machine parts, and even food (Griggs). But now scientists are working to apply that same technology to the field of medicine. In labs around the world, like the one at Organovo, scientists have begun to print prototype body parts including heart valves, ears, artificial bone, joints, menisci, vascular tubes, and skin grafts, (“Bioprinting”). The innovation of this technology lies in the fact that it generates actual living human cells, allowing for the reproduction of organs and tissue that “mimic the form and function of native tissues in the body” (“Bioprinting”). Since its

Almost everyone has seen one of those doctor shows where the patient is waiting for a kidney but the wait is too long and they die. This is always the most depressing part of these movies because you had started to associate and connect with the patients. What if it did not have to end like that? What if the patient gets the dearly needed kidney in time and lives a nice full life? Sounds like the plot to an ordinary feel good movie but that could never happen in real life, right? Scientists and engineers everywhere have found a way to make this dream true by making a bio printer. What’s a bio printer you may ask? Well, a bio printer is a printer that prints living tissue. Sounds gross, right? Well yes and no. Yes in the fact we are