3D printing could help fix damaged cartilage in knees

• Researchers have found a way to produce cartilage tissue by 3-D bioprinting, an ink containing human cells, and they have successfully tested it in an in vivo mouse model. The development could one day lead to precisely printed implants to heal damaged noses, ears and knees.
• Three-dimensional bio-printing is a disruptive technology and is expected to revolutionise tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

About 3D printing:

• 3D printing or additive manufacturing is a process of making three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file. The creation of a 3D printed object is achieved using additive processes. In an additive process an object is created by laying down successive layers of material until the entire object is created. Each of these layers can be seen as a thinly sliced horizontal cross-section of the eventual object.
• 3D printing has been used to create car parts, smartphone cases, fashion accessories, medical equipment and artificial organs. Charles “Chuck” Hull created the first functional 3D printer in 1984 and the technology has come a long way ever since then.
• Manufacturing corporations and aerospace organizations have saved billions of dollars by using 3D printing for building parts.
• 3D printing has also helped save lives. 3D printing has been applied in medicine since the early 2000s, when the technology was first used to make dental implants and custom prosthetics. Since then, the medical applications for 3D printing have evolved considerably. Recently there is use of 3D printing to produce bones, ears, exoskeletons, windpipes, a jaw bone, eyeglasses, cell cultures, stem cells, blood vessels, vascular networks, tissues, and organs, as well as novel dosage forms and drug delivery devices. The current medical uses of 3D printing can be organized into several broad categories: tissue and organ fabrication; creating prosthetics, implants, and anatomical models; and pharmaceutical research concerning drug discovery, delivery, and dosage forms.

By: Vishal