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Writer's pictureRonald Udani

“It even makes artificial bones”… '3D bio printer' reproduces high-quality artificial organs

Overcoming the limitations of existing organ transplantation from cells to skin, organs, and parts of the body Substitute animal experiments, “solving ethical issues”

3D bioprinting technology has brought about many changes and innovations in the medical field.
3D bioprinting technology has brought about many changes and innovations in the medical field. (Photo=Pangse)

3D printing technology has also revolutionized the bio industry. A new world is opening up with 3D bioprinting that minimizes side effects and solves the immune rejection response that was inevitable during unethical animal testing and organ transplantation. Recently, advanced 3D printing technology has been used in a variety of ways, from cloning cells to skin and organs, and intractable diseases.


Jaideep Raj Rao, a surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore, said in a telephone interview with Blue News on May 27, “Recently, 3D printing technology has been actively applied to skull defects and facial deformities in Singapore, and “The 3D bioprinting technology improves both the safety and convenience of medical personnel and patients,” he said.


Surgeon Rao said, “Because we print our own cells using bio-ink, it is possible to produce customized organs suitable for each patient.

Jaideep Raj Rao, Surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore. (Photo=Jaideep Raj Rao)
Jaideep Raj Rao, Surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore. (Photo=Jaideep Raj Rao)

3D printing is a system that three-dimensionally outputs an object, and 3D bioprinting can be seen as a technology that has changed the type of material used in this 3D printing technology. The principle of 3D bioprinting and 3D printing is the same in that the materials are piled up little by little except for the different types.


3D bioprinting is a technology that makes various living tissues and organs through 3D printers using 'bio ink' that utilizes biomaterials of cells as raw materials. From cells to tissues and organs, it can be cloned and transplanted. The patient's cells are cultured and the skin is directly printed on the affected area with a 3D printer. The patient scans the required area, measures the depth and width of the area, and based on this, the cultured skin tissue is custom-printed.


Because cells cover the skin tailored to the measured area, it is possible to prevent secondary infection as well as replace the inevitable animal experiments through reproduction of cells and organs. Because bio-ink is made using the patient's own cells, 3D printing can minimize side effects because there is no immune system rejection that was unavoidable when performing the existing transplantation of organs from others. In addition, because it is your own cell, it has the advantage of much faster adaptation and recovery period.

3D bioprinting equipment. It prints what you want according to the purpose with the bio-ink extracted from the body. (Photo=Pangse Co., Ltd.)
3D bioprinting equipment. It prints what you want according to the purpose with the bio-ink extracted from the body. (Photo=Pangse Co., Ltd.)

Bioprinting is being actively used in regenerative medicine research. It is being applied in various ways to reproduce the structure of living tissue in the study of regenerative treatment of tissues such as the skeleton, skin, liver, heart, nerve, and cornea. It is being applied not only to stem cell research, but also to cancer disease development and treatment research.


In the early days, only biomaterials were printed and used as a structure for cells to settle and grow, or as a skeleton implant. Recently, functional studies beyond simple structures are being actively conducted by outputting cells as living structures.


In this regard, UNIST (Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology) Life Sciences Researcher Hyeonjun Jang said, “3D bioprinting is being applied to simulate various organs such as the liver, muscles, and intestines for drug screening and disease model application, and to create cancer-like models.” Explain.


According to Zhang's report, 3D bioprinting has the advantage of being able to more accurately place different cell types when designing tissues compared to other bioengineering techniques such as hanging drop.


Furthermore, the ability to stack multiple cell types makes it possible to fabricate 3D structures that consider the possibility of co-culture and angiogenesis, provide flexibility to handle multiple materials by locating complex spatial locations, and increase the interaction between cells and substrates. It increases the viability of cells. This report was published in February 2019 in the Korean People's Network of Scientists and Engineers (KOSEN) Kosen Report under the title 'Trends in disease modeling using 3D bioprinting'.


In addition, Kim Geum-rye, a marketing team manager at Panse, a company specializing in 3D bioprinting, met with Blue News reporters at '2022 Bio Korea' on May 13th and said, “With 3D bioprinting technology, artificial cancer disease models, human liver and brain, Currently, we are expanding our scope to the field of high-quality cultured meat.”


Deputy Director Kim said, “Bioprinting technology can minimize errors based on robot automation technology.


This article is originally published here: http://www.bluenews.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=765

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