What is Bioprinting?

  Bioprinting – or 3D printing – is the newest printing technology that will allow users to reproduce usable items on demand. This new innovation deals specifically with the usage of cells to produce body parts such as organs and arteries. A bioprinter would be able to produce living tissue from cells; cells are placed at exact locations on site, while additional layers are used to support the construction of the object.

Bioprinting; an infographic

Organovo

Organovo, a biotechnology company headquartered in San Diego, is the dominating market leader in the bioprinting technology as of today. Although the first bioprinter was created in 2008 by Professor Makoto Nakamura, Organovo is expected to continue to dominate the bioprinting markets with their breakthrough developments of the product. Recently, Organovo has applied for and owns patents for “multilayered vascular tubes” and “self-assembling multicellular bodies and methods of producing a three-dimensional structure using the same”. Organovo’s NovoGen MMX Bioprinter was also acknowledged as one of the best inventions in 2010 by TIME magazine.

Barriers to Adoption

Even with the bright future of bio-printing in mind, it still has several barriers to overcome before it will succeed in global markets. Scientists still have a long road ahead of them and need to perfect the technology they work with, continue testing on animals, get approval to test on humans, go through years of human tests and further improving their technology, and then have the FDA approve the final product to put out on the market. Another potential issue could be religious groups. Several religious groups would consider this technology against the will of God, inhuman, or even satanic. They are likely to cause trouble for scientists by defaming them through the web or public protests. Even once the product is out on the market, patents could create more barriers. If only a select few companies are able to sell bio-printing products due to patents and such, their oligopoly may cause them to use the power they hold to set extremely high prices. If the price of a new organ or tissue is too high for most consumers to afford, it would limit the potential the technology has to spread and truly make an impact on the world. Overall, bio-printing has several barriers to overcome over the next several decades.

Future Development

Bio-printing is still in its early phase and not yet matured, but hopefully within the next few decades scientists will have progressed far enough to create fully functional, living human organs such as hearts or livers, and develop methods to transport them for transplant. This technology does indeed have a bright future, and could lead to longer, healthier lives for all the people in need of organs or skin grafts. This technology is nearly guaranteed to lead in global markets once it has been perfected and FDA approved. Millions of people are in need of organ transplants, skin grafts, or would simply lead a better life with healthier organs, and once this technology is available, they would all jump at the opportunity. Also, since it is likely that only a few companies would be selling products of bio-printing (due to patents and such), they would be dominating sales. Overall, with scientists diligently working to make this technology usable by humans, we will one day see “a society with low drug costs and no organ transplant list, all because of bio-printing”.