A 3-D machine that prints skin? How burn care could be revolutionized

In a basement laboratory at the University of Toronto, a team led by PhD engineering student Lian Leng is developing a printer to create viable human skin. The Globe and Mail reports.

Leng�s printer forms its sheet of soft tissue as it works. It can also build up the material � made mostly from living cells � to varying thicknesses, textures and densities. It�s a 3-D tissue printer that could save lives and revolutionize burn care around the world.

The device is still at a prototype stage, with live-animal testing of its output to begin later this year. If successful, Leng�s tissue printer could mark a huge advance in quality of life and survivability for severely burned patients, and dramatically reduce treatment costs. Eventually it could morph into a machine for fabricating internal organs.

Read full article via 3ders.org.

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