We know about printing of paper, most of us have also heard what three dimensional printing 3D is. The biological three dimensional(3D) printing is a way of manufacturing the living tissue, organ or even clone layer by layer in successive manner with the help of a 3D printer.
Bio-Ink
Bio ink is made of hydrogel bio-material that mimics the natural extracellular matrix of mammalian cells, giving them time for making their own milieu.
Bio-ink contain two different polymer components: a natural polymer extracted from seaweed, and a sacrificial synthetic polymer used in the medical industry.
The scientists, who published the technique in the journal _"Science Advances"- , used bacterial species; Pseudomonas putida and Acetobacter xylinum former breaks down the toxic chemical like phenol, which is produced in large scale in the chemical manufacturing industries , the latter secretes highly-pure quality nano-cellulose. This bacterial nano-cellulose relieve from any sort of pain, holds moisture and maintains stability that opens up its potential applications in the treatment like severe burns.
This 3D printing platform provides numerous potential combinations to print biological tissue. In a single pass scientists can use four different inks containing different species of bacteria at different concentration in order to produce tissue exhibiting different properties.
SOURCE: Google
Bio inks, (flink)are ideal for three dimensional bioprinting, thus offers a 3D environment for culture of cells.
Three dimensional(3D) bio printing/additive manufacturing is a process of making three dimensional solid tissue from a living cells using digital file. It is an additive process wherein an object is created by laying down layer by layer of material until the tissue or organ is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual formed unit.
Like a general 3D printing produces complex (functional) shapes using less material than traditional manufacturing methods bio-printing also acts on the same principle.
Application of 3D printing and 3D bio-printing.
It can be used for printing complex tissues using the patient’s own stem cells for surgical bone or cartilage implants, which could be used in knee and hip surgeries.
Manufacturing
- Mass customisation.
- Rapid Prototyping
- Rapid manufacturing
- Cloud-based additive manufacturing.
Example;
3D printed bike;
SOURCE: wordpress
Medical applications;
- Printed prosthetics
- use of bioprinting in tissue engineering
- high dose pills manufacturing.
Industrial applications;
- Apparel
- customisable art and jewelry
- in automotive industry as 3D printed cars
- construction
- fire arms etc.
- Biotechnology
The futurologist Jeremy Rifkin
" 3D printing signals the beginning of a third industrial revolution".
There are many challenges associated like, intellectual property rights, regulation of Guns and other ethical concerns(human cloning), crimal utility because of easy availability.
Hope the technology must serve for collective good and benefit present and future generations of human species.
Sources
The Hindu News paper.