All the Cells that are Fit to Print

Gabor Forgacs, a biophysicist at the University of Missouri in Columbia, is pioneering a technique for arranging human tissue that he calls "bioprinting."  One day, bioprinting could allow tissue engineers to construct portions of artificial organs.

Bioprinting involves layering clumps of "bioink" to create a three-dimensional structure.  So far, Forgacs has succeeded in creating a cluster of chicken heart cells that beat synchronously.

This is not the first time that tissue engineers have tried to build tissue structures, but bioprinting promises to be an economical process.

Source:  New Scientist