Bioprinting has proven useful in study and research activities. One of the possibilities it offers is to test the effects of drugs or treatments on 3D printed fabrics.
Therefore, it is fundamental for applications in the medical field which with bioprinting can print human tissues from cell layers. The ambitious goal is to be able to create entire organs useful for transplants.
As a branch of 3D printing applications that proves to be very useful in sectors where great precision and the possibility of carrying out operations with extremely small instruments are required.
In medicine, 3D printing has given rise to numerous projects, some of which are revolutionary. The first case in Bologna in 2016 to create vertebrae that save from cancer up to the “bioprinting” applications.
We still remember the Meyer enterprise in Florence where a 3D printed artificial ear transplant was performed.
This Italian record, carried out last year on one of the ears of a thirteen year old, used cutting-edge methods to reconstruct an ear based on that of the mother in 3D. The cartilage was then extracted from the boy’s intercostal one.
This new branch of medicine, born from the fusion of science with 3D printing: instead of using polymeric filaments, biocompatible materials called bionik are used. In this way, printed fabrics can be used in different ways and in medical applications such as organ transplantation.
An updated overview is available on the blog of Luca Borro, a researcher at the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital in Rome where he is involved in the development of 3D Bioprinting technology applied to medicine.
Che cos’è il Bioprinting e perchè è così importante per il futuro della medicina?
As Luca Borro hopes, to get to a bioprinting area that can also include the regeneration of the heart muscle, we will have to work hard for the next 10-15 years, but without a doubt the bioprinting does not stop. Luckily.
