Posts Tagged ‘organs’
Six Dream Projects of the 3-D Printing Pioneers
They can print houses on the moon and change the course of science education forever--and they might be closer to fruition than you'd think
Right now, 3-D printing is relatively primitive, especially when using the cheaper, simpler printers designed to get more hobbyists experimenting with the new technology. Current 3-D printing projects include Marcelo Coelho's Digital Chocolatier, which extrudes layers of chocolate, caramel, nuts, and other candy components to create a custom-designed candy bar. But from these simple roots, these designers all see incredible projects springing forth in the future.
The next step for 3-D printing seems to be figuring out a way to print multiple substrates at once. To print entire working machines, for example, you've got to print mechanical objects, batteries, and silicon chips, all at the same time. (To see how that works, check out .) But none of the 3-D printing experts I spoke to showed the slightest uncertainty that that hurdle would be overcome. It was never "if we can figure out a way," but always "when we figure out a way."
I did find a division in the way these scientists, engineers, and designers see 3-D printing. Some, like Hod Lipson of Cornell University's Fab@Home group, compare 3-D printers to computers, saying their functionality and design will evolve in ways we can't predict, but which will end up vital to our daily lives, regardless of their eventual form. Others, like Enrico Dini, are dreamers, seeing 3-D printers as less a personal fabrication device and more a new medium for a restless muse to exploit. But they are all entranced with the possibilities presented by 3-D printers, and though their dream projects are varied, they're all pretty amazing.
Oh, and if you're curious about how a 3-D printer actually works, don't forget to check out --it's both simpler and more complicated than you'd think.
Coming Soon: Disposable Endoscopes Featuring the World’s Tiniest Cameras
Endoscopy involves inserting a cable with a camera lens on it through your body’s natural openings or through small incisions, so doctors can check out internal organs, examine injuries or perform surgery. But endoscopes are complex to produce, requiring complex silicon wafer etching, which means they’re expensive. They also must be carefully sanitized with each use, which is time-consuming.
The new model, designed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration in Berlin, is so cheap that it could be tossed out with the doctor’s latex gloves.
It’s possible with a new fabrication method that simplifies the wiring of the image sensors, according to a . Typical endoscopic cameras consist of a lens at one end and a sensor at the other, but this one is self-contained, as . The camera has a resolution of 62,500 pixels and transmits images through an electrical cable.
It’s just one cubic millimeter in size, which the researchers say is the smallest camera known.
Along with medical applications, endoscopes are used in bomb disposal and in the construction industry. The automotive industry is apparently interested in this new one, according to Fraunhofer — the tiny cameras could be used to replace outside rear-view mirrors, improving cars’ aerodynamics, or they could be installed to monitor drivers’ eye movements to make sure they’re paying attention to the road.
The German image sensor firm Awaiba GmbH developed the tiny endoscope with Fraunhofer Labs, and its owner hopes to commercialize the technology by next year.
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Researchers Making Freezable Fruit Flies, and Eventually Human Cells That Can Survive Low Temperatures
Researchers at Rutgers are trying to freeze fruit flies, but this isn't just some reaction to summer boredom in the biology lab. They are trying to freeze the summertime pests while keeping them alive to learn how to of living organisms. If they can figure out how to engineer cold-tolerant flies they should be able to do the same for human cells, and that could lead to extended shelf life for donated human organs.
The fruit fly Drosophila is an ideal candidate for such research because of it's complex genetic system, and researchers are trying to figure out how to flip the genetic switch that turns off their susceptibility to cold. The answer exists in an enzyme called AMP phosphate that Rutgers-Camden professor Daniel Shain discovered in glacier-dwelling ice worms. That key enzyme regulates the ice worms' body energy levels, letting them not only withstand the brutal cold, but to thrive in it.
Creating cold-resistant fruit flies requires a greater genetic trick, but researchers at Rutgers-Camden and their graduate and undergraduate students are observing how all kinds of organisms, from bacteria to algae, flourish in cold climates. If those organisms can do it, human cells should be able to pull it off as well.
The idea is coax human cells to live for longer periods on ice. Right now, 24 hours is about the maximum duration an organ can remain viable once removed from the body. If extensive transit or operating preparation is necessary, the organ might not make it, in which case the patient might not either.
FYI: Are Organs Ever Re-Donated?
There are a few good reasons, however, why donated organs aren’t often re-gifted. If the organ is coming from someone who was so sick that he needed a new organ, it probably lived a pretty rough second life. What’s more, dying involves the entire body shutting down. “The trauma of dying can injure an organ,” says Robert Montgomery, the director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Johns Hopkins University. “And then the second person dies, and the organ is taken out again. That’s more injury.” But the main problem with playing hot potato with an organ is the scar tissue that forms on it within weeks after the first surgery. That tissue must be removed before a second transplant, and doing so can injure the organ too much to make it worth re-donating.
But don’t worry: Organs that are suitable for re-transplantation rarely spend much time in the first recipient, which means less time for scar tissue to form. So if you’re getting a third-hand kidney, chances are it’s almost as good as almost new.
Have a science question you've always wondered about? Send a tweet to or email to fyi@popsci.com
Inkjet Cell Fabricator Prints Healing Flesh Directly Onto Wounds
The device itself consists of a tank holding a mixture of harvested skin cells, stem cells, and nutrients, and a computer-controlled nozzle that places the cells exactly where they need to go. The spray works similar to a color printer, first spraying down a layer of fibroblast skin cells as a substrate, and then blasting on a layer of protective keratinocyte cells. Both sprays also contain a slurry of some undeveloped skin cells.
In initial tests on wounded lab mice, burns treated with the cell printer healed in two weeks, compared with the usual five weeks skin grafts take to heal. Additionally, the mice with the printed-on skin showed less scarring and more hair regeneration, as the sprayed-on stem cells better incorporated themselves into all the various cell types of the burned flesh.
Successful mouse tests have driven the Wake Forest scientists onward to tests with pigs, whose skin more closely resembles that of humans. After the tests with pigs conclude, the doctors can finally move on to human trials, and eventual FDA approval. Additionally, the Wake Forest team is working with the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to utilize this technology on the battlefield, to print shut bullet wounds and blast damage.
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