Slashdot Mirror
Create Living Cells With an Inkjet Printer
MattSparkes writes to tell us New Scientist has an article on the use of inkjet printing technology in creating biological tissue. From the article "An inkjet device that prints tiny 'bio-ink' patterns has been used to simultaneously grow two different tissues from the stem cells of adult mice. Surgeons could one day use the technology to repair various damaged tissues at the same time, the researchers say."
This lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "Getting some ink"
C|N>K
I'm sure i could buy a new liver from the Russian mafia for less than the Lexmark ink required to print one.
You know they're going to gouge you for refills.
PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean?
that finding printer drivers for Linux was difficult....
Where the hell do you find a printer driver for this? I'm pretty sure it won't be from the Intelligent Design Printer company LOLOL
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
If you have something to publish, publish in Nature or Science. If you have nothing to publish, publish in New Scientist...
We're all born with nothing.
If you die in debt, you're ahead.
I saw a highschool-aged kid show one of these off at the Florida State Science Fair several years ago. I had heard about the concept prior as well. While it is an interesting idea, it should not be presented as brand-spanking new.
I'm gonna make me a new girlfriend using only LaTeX and vim.
Now imagine if I have a Beowulf cluster of these... I could instruct them to print out THE PERFECT (NAKED) WOMAN! Bwahahaha!
People say I should go out and meet women but I think this is so much cooler!
Vivin Suresh Paliath
http://vivin.net
I like
This adds whole new dimensions to the work-day-after embarrassment of getting drunk at the office Christmas party and making photocopies of your ass.
I'd really like to print out my own heart to give to my girlfriend on Valentine's Day. I think it would be bloody sweet.
United States Patent Application 732980759-32754321
Protein structure for biochemical enforcement of growth factor ink expiry dates
ABSTRACT
A protein structure and associated amino acid sequence providing a set of functions for remotely enforcing expiry dates of growth factor ink.
Inventors: MillionthMonkey
Serial No.: 053243653216
Series Code: 10
Filed: December 11, 2006
Claims
1. An architecture for a system comprising: a greedy ink manufacturer, an end user, an ink expiration date, a hardware device capable of spraying growth factor protein containing inks into desired tissue growth patterns, an application program interface to support same.
2. An architecture as recited in claim 1, wherein a biochemical timer is implemented with adjustable expiry date settings that may be set at time of manufacture, via expression of a sequence of amino acids (see Attachment A) generating a protein that processes an RNA strand at a fixed rate.
3. An architecture as recited in claim 2, wherein an RNA template molecule of predetermined length is used at time of manufacture to control a timer as recited in claim 2.
4. An architecture as recited in claim 3, wherein a biochemical clock is employed to trigger denaturation of growth factor proteins as recited in claim 1.
5. An architecture as recited in claim 4, wherein the application program interface comprises: a first group of services related to discovery of an impending ink expiry event, a second group of services related to displaying numerous dialog boxes to the end user [as outlined in claim 1] asking for money, and a third group of services related to remotely extracting payment from an end user [as outlined in claim 1].
6. An application program interface as recited in claim 5, wherein the first group of services comprises: first functions that enable ink manufacturer to specify an expiry date [as recited in claim 3] and implement enforcement of the expiry date by having a biochemical timer [as recited in claim 4] trigger denaturation of growth factors used in gene expression inks.
CONCLUSION
Although the invention has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claimed invention.
And I'm off to the patent office! Later, suckas!
They're not creating cells. They are 'claiming' to have allegedly created tissues by using the inkjet to spray non-differentiated stem cells on to a substrate. Doesn't sound like they're close to selling skin tissue to burn victims yet, though.
Watch out, here comes Leeloo.
Sure, but buy in bulk so you'll have enough left over to grow her some tits.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Screw that. Just make the tits.
If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
Humanity will inevitably learn new technologies to cheaply and exactly replicate patterns of matter, much as we currently are able to flawlessly and freely share patterns of information. The profound economic effects modern computing has wrought on society are about to be repeated in another echo of the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions.
First we somehow learned how to share information, person-to-person, with language. Ten thousand years ago we used that to develop agriculture; we learned how to replicate plants. Then we automated that with the help of domesticated farm animals and handmade tools. We systematized all of this, and then figured out how to globally replicate and distribute the instructions for making the tools themselves. Another cycle gets us where we are today, where we can use all of the available knowledge and tools to design the *next* generation of whatever it is we're trying to do with ourselves.
So where are we going with all this, besides "burning" a batch of Viagra, Ciprofloxacin, LSD, or flu vaccine on your desktop? Maybe we need to keep an open source perspective, so you can at least cook up some aspirin as *FREELY* as you can play an .ogg. You might have to listen to Beethoven while you wait, because Britney, Beck, and Björk are still locked down (although your grandfather might have left you an illicit DVD with the Beatles discography as ancient MP3s).
it's a blue bright blue Saturday hey hey
All this talk of organs and body parts... Screw that, I'm hungry -- can they use it to grow muscle tissue? Mmm, printed meat.
Once the technology gets established enough to be cheap, it sounds like it might actually become more energy-efficient than raising livestock. And it should be ethically acceptable for vegetarians -- wouldn't some of them at least, who aren't too spooked by the "sciencey-ness" of the whole thing, agree that since the meat didn't come from an animal, it's okay to eat?
David Gould
main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}
The system isn't actually creating living cells. It's laying existing cells down into a pattern to form tissues. The title, "Create Living Cells With an Inkjet Printer" seems to imply that it's putting together molecules to form cells. (Is it "printing" the nucleotide sequences of DNA and RNA, "printing" mitochondria, "printing" amino acid sequences so that they form working 3-dimensional proteins, placing sugars and hormones inside those cells? Is it laying down a thin cell-wall with species-specific proteins embedded in that wall?) The answer is no, it's not doing any of that. We aren't capable of doing that, and even if we were, it would require a massive database of information that's much larger than the data stored in the human genome.
it doesn't actually create living cells as implied. It looks more like it makes a growth template for stem cells to use, as well as possibly planting them.
Still useful mind you. But creating functional cells de-novo? No. That would be extremely nice, and probably the most nobel-worthy discovery in biology since Watson & Crick's nice little discovery (even if it didn't require a printer, just doing it would be quite useful)...
Sadly, not yet.
34486853790
Connection too slow for X forwarding? Try "ssh -CX user@host"
As an individual who has a serious bone defect from an accident, this is very exciting news. Honestly, try wandering around thought life with one femur 2 inches shorter than the other. There are many folks out there who could really benefit from this technology. While it's fun to crack wise or debate the morality of the issue when you don't need the help this process could offer, remember that there are a lot of people who have been praying for something like this for a long time. Check out a children's hospital some time and see how many little ones could be helped by this.