By Kevin Famuyiro – The Los Angeles Times –
For years it’s been science fiction: printing a spare part for the human body on demand. But today in labs around the world that fiction is becoming a reality. 3D bioprinting, the marriage of biology and engineering, allows scientists to build living human tissue, layer by layer. From skin and cartilage to miniature livers, bioprinting will change how we treat disease, test drugs and repair trauma.
But it’s much more than just loading a cartridge and pressing print. It’s a delicate dance of biology, chemistry and mechanics where precision is required at every step to get living cells to form functional, life sustaining structures. Let’s dive in and see how this technology works and where it’s at.
