New 3D Bioprinter Uses Sound Waves to Build Soft Tissue – ExtremeTech
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Excerpt:
Researchers in Australia have developed a new type of 3D bioprinter that uses sound waves to coax cells toward a desired output. Capable of producing fragile soft tissue and sturdier tissue such as bone, the technology could change the way researchers test and discvoer new drugs. It could even facilitate custom-built organs for transplant.
This isn’t the first 3D bioprinter to produce living tissue. Devices of all shapes, sizes, and constructions have been printing with bioinks and living cells for roughly two decades, including this flexible 3D bioprinter—which can add new tissue to internal organs—and this one made out of Lego. A transplant patient in South Korea even received the world’s first 3D printed windpipe earlier this year. But these devices print several cells at a time, and beyond the overall shape of the tissue being printed, there’s no way to position cells in the ultra-precise configurations needed to replicate naturally occuring tissue.
A new approach from the University of Melbourne’s Collins Biomicrosystems Lab allows researchers to print just one cell at a time, offering a more precise alternative to existing 3D bioprinters. It also uses sound waves to position these individual cells in exactly the right place, helping to reproduce the micro-structures that make up tissues throughout the body.
