Podcast: Play in new window
BOB HIRSHON (host):
Printing new organs…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
HIRSHON:
Organ transplants are often hard to come by, and there’ s a high likelihood of rejection. But in the future, it may be possible to literally print some tissues and even organs out on a printer. Cornell roboticist Hod Lipson says 3D printers that resemble dot matrix printers already exist, and they’re being modified to deal with human cells.
HOD LIPSON (Cornell University):
Imagine that you could take cells from a torn meniscus cartilage in the knee, culture them, make more cells, put them in a special ink that’s biologically compatible, then print a three dimensional new meniscus from those cells and then implant it back into the person that had the torn meniscus to begin with.
HIRSHON:
He says it may never be possible to print something as complex as an eye, but that someday a body scan could provide the blueprints for replacing organs when they’re needed. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.