3D Printing Insider: 3D Printing BioPen Enables Customized Surgical Implants
WOW! They are 3D printing LIVE cells to the site – where they differentiate into nerve, muscle or bone cells… AMAZING!
A handheld ‘BioPen developed in the labs of the University of Wollongong (UOW)
The BioPen will give surgeons greater control over where the materials are deposited while also reducing the time the patient is in surgery by delivering live cells and growth factors directly to the site of injury, accelerating the regeneration of functional bone and cartilage.
Once the cells are ‘drawn’ onto the surgery site they will multiply, become differentiated into nerve cells, muscle cells or bone cells and will eventually turn from individual cells into a thriving community of cells in the form of a functioning a tissue, such as nerves, or a muscle.
Chez Froggie 