3-D Organ Printing – New Bio Organ Creation

Friday, March 26, 2010 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories: Technology | Tags: research, university, engineering, print

For around $200,000, a true spring bargain, you will soon be able to buy the first commercial 3D bio-printer for manufacturing human tissue and organs.

Imagine the fun Christmas presents you could turn out for family and friends. Gone is the old home photo printer, in comes a new set of kidneys, a new thumb, or a third ear – bound to be a gift favourite from loving wives to tone deaf husbands!

It has been developed by Organovo, a company in San Diego that specialises in regenerative medicine, and Invetech, an engineering and automation firm in Melbourne, Australia.

One of Organovo’s founders, Gabor Forgacs of the University of Missouri, developed the prototype on which the new 3D bio-printer is based. The first production models will soon be delivered to research groups.