Jun 11, 2014
As 3D printing technology matures, scientists can foresee that one day we could just print entire replacement human organs ready for transplant. But Dr. Ibrahim Ozbolat, assistant professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and co-director of the University of Iowa's Advanced Manufacturing Technology Group, says that we may one day bio-print an organ that can generate electricity within the body, pushing the technology even farther.
Ozbolat discussed about how far off we are from being able to create brand new organs that generate electricity in a recent interview with Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani from HuffPost Live.
Ozbolat said that while scientists are focusing on creating organs that can replace failed organs, another interesting area is to develop a "brand new organ" that doesn't exist in human body but could be transplanted to "enhance the functionality of the human body."
"For example you can create an organ that can generate electricity within the body." Ozbolat told HuffPost Live.
Ozbolat explained this fatastic idea further.
"For complicated organs -- for example, if the heart fails -- then you need a pacemaker. The pacemaker runs with batteries, and when the battery needs to be replaced, surgery is needed," he said. So instead of this procedure, scientists could create "an organ that is going to be part of the human body and generate electricity that can run the heart."
See the full HuffPost Live conversation about bioprinting organs below.
Ozbolat leads a team of students and researchers at the UI's Center for Computer Aided Design that is using 3D printing technology to explore the possibilities of printing actual human tissue.
"We are using living cells as our base material to build something in 3D," said Ozbolat. They replaced the plastic filament with living tissues and print them layer by layer to make blood vessels and even more complicated vascular network.
While it may sound futuristic, their long-term goal is to produce functioning human organs in the next 10 years. Right now, they are working on bio-printing a cure for diabetes. "One of the most promising research activities is bioprinting a glucose-sensitive pancreatic organ that can be grown in a lab and transplanted anywhere inside the body to regulate the glucose level of blood," says Ozbolat.
You can take a look at the multi-arm 3D bioprinter developed by Ozbolat's team below:
Posted in 3D Printing Technology
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cool always wanted to shoot lightning bolts from my fingertips ;)