This article isn’t in chronological sequence. I wrote it more like a proof in Geometry if you will, so that the skeleton is built on to bring you to the final step (which hasn’t happened just yet).
A 12 year old had a malignant bone tumor in his neck removed…and replaced with a stronger piece of plastic in a 5 hour highly complex procedure in a Beijing hospital last week (he also had his Carotid arteries and trachea replaced). He was the first to have a 3D printed vertebra replaced. His full recovery should take about 2 months [wishing Minghao well!].
Two further developments have occurred: A functioning Thymus gland has been created from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) transplanted into mice lacking the gland at the UCSF. This is important from the tissue culture and transplant point of view, but the Thymus gland’s function is motion independent also.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota created a beating heart in the laboratory (in 2006).
By using a process called whole organ decellularization, scientists from the University of Minnesota Center for Cardiovascular Repair grew functioning heart tissue by taking dead rat and pig hearts and reseeding them with a mixture of live cells. "The idea would be to develop transplantable blood vessels or whole organs that are made from your own cells," said Doris Taylor, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Repair. – ScienceDaily
Thus, if a cadaver heart were decellularized, and then repopulated with cells from a tissue lab, a functioning heart might be possible in humans…but there are ethical limitations for this, as well as grief stricken relatives to consider, as well. The stem cells used to repopulate the hearts were embryonic in origin and were rat and pig hearts. These results were very promising since fully beating hearts were observed 8 days later.
A second approach to producing the matrix for the cells is being developed at the University of Louisville.
There’s a big difference between 3D bioprinting a static structure like a vertebra or bone and an organ whose function involves movement.
A 3D cardiac bioprinter (BioAssembly Tool – BAT) is being developed at the University of Louisville…and the process of printing intricate curved surfaces…and the coding needed for such a thing, as well as the ethics furor around stem cells…(which, by the way, seem to have arrested the progression of ALS in Israeli patients).
The big news about that BAT is the code being used for the newest edition 6 axes robot called BAB (BioAssemblyBot). The program is based on CAD software (no surprise) known as Tissue Structure Information Modeling now a biological CAD:
“It takes the manual coding out of the process and replaces it with something that resembles desktop image editing software. It allows the medical researchers to scan and manipulate 3D models of organs and tissues and then use those to make decisions in diagnosing patients. And then, use those same scans to model tissues (and eventually organs) to print using the BAB.” – TechRepublic
You should take a look at the whole TechRepublic article.
This article was just to update you as to what’s happening. None of this is ready for actual deployment. We’re at the verge of a possibly wonderful age for people suffering from a host of problems.
I recommend reading the source articles.
Sources:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/beijing-doctors-implant-worlds-first-3d-printed-vertebra-123259442.html?.tsrc=samsungwn#Gv5CG0J
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080113142205.htm
http://scitechdaily.com/researchers-generate-immune-responses-from-stem-cell-grown-thymus-tissue/
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/new-3d-bioprinter-to-reproduce-human-organs/#ftag=RSS56d97e7