Posted by Mike on November 26th, 2007 in biology, manufacturing

This technology may well be the breakthrough that eventually clears the list of folks waiting for an organ transplant. Researchers at the University of Missouri print ‘bio ink’ particles (droplets which contain 10,000 to 40,000 cells) onto paper, and then allow these particles/spheres to grow and fuse together. The growing mass slowly morphs into a macro-structure: the cells sort themselves to find the right vocation (muscle cells vs fiber cells), and move to the correct location.

While the science in this article really blows me away, it also really reminds me of the persistence of life. Read down a bit in this article and find the sentence “When the bio-ink particles were first printed, the cells did not beat in unison, but as the cellular spheroids fused, the structure eventually started beating just as a heart does.” When you think of how persistent we are as a life form, this shouldn’t surprise me, but it really does.

Years ago when I was working on a heart lung machine design, I got to watch open heart surgery. When they want to stop the heart, so they can stitch vessels grafts onto it, they circulate a potassium solution into the heart which short circuits the electrical signals and stops it. Watching from the anesthesiologist position for a few minutes I was struck by the fact that as soon as the potassium solution start to wear off, the heart starts to quiver, then tries to get itself started and eventually will simply restart itself, rhythmically, reliably, persistently. Just like the chicken heart cell….

Back on topic, I can see this science eventually leading to a day in which nephrons cells are printed and grown into replacement kidneys.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uom-mrt110607.php