Bioprinting

Abstract

Printed guns. Cars. Aircraft components. Running shoes. It is common knowledge that manufacturing and prototyping have been transformed by the revolution that is 3D printing—a technology that creates 3D objects from digital models. The technology, virtually unheard of a couple of years ago—except among sci-fi aficionados—now makes headlines around the world on a daily basis. While this technology continues to touch every industry from aerospace to automotive parts, its most life-changing application lies in the medical arena. 3D bioprinting artificially constructs living tissue by extruding not metal or plastic, but cells. By building biological structures layer by layer, bioprinters can craft anything from bladders to bone, and skulls to skin. Thanks to this technology, the printing of beating human hearts is no longer the stuff of sci-fi movies—it’s a short distance over the horizon.

There is no such thing as science fiction. There is only science eventuality.

Steven Spielberg,

in The Making of Jurassic Park, 1995