I’ve mentioned 3D printing before (#10), as it is quite the invention. Well now a company called Organovo, based out in San Diego, California is focusing on changing medical research and practice with 3D printing.
How this works – 3D printing takes cellular building blocks, layers them and builds them up into a foam matrix. The estimated time it takes to build a layer of skin is 30 minutes. Since skin cells grow so fast, its very easy for it to scale.
Who’s in on it – Organovo has a partnership with L’ORÉAL to focus on the beauty industry. This may sound weird to the average person, but L’ORÉAL plans on using the printed skin to test product safety and performance.They one day hope to work with patient care.
Benefits – While the beauty industry got a head start, I believe this would be a great solution for lots of patients in need of new skin graphs. Think burn victims or those who’ve had acid thrown on them. It could possible help us with skin conditions as well. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, check out these two videos for more information.
1st Video – (it’s short I promise)
2nd Video – (A bit long, but if you’re interested it is worth viewing)
Sources – http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-32795169
http://www.organovo.com/
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/17/technology/3d-bioprinting-skin/