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Organovo Has Its First Commercial 3D Bio-Printer

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the company-with-a-lot-of-heart(s) dept.

kkleiner writes "Organovo and strategic partner Invetech hope in 2010 to release a commercial version of their 3D organ printer capable of producing very basic tissues like blood vessels. While it is still limited to simple tissue structures (full organs are a long ways off), Organovo plans to deliver the printers to various research institutions interested in organ and tissue production. Working with these institutions, Organovo hopes to one day progress to creating a system that can print organs as easily as other 3D printers print plastic figurines."

8 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. Dead tree organs are so 90s by iamacat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I demand digital organs in a sleek package that looks good in starbucks, complete with DRM and remote kill capability to protect the consumers!

  2. Re:The obvious market driver is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Dicks? That's natural, I believe.

  3. Re:Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Preferably women will stop butchering their tits just to look "better."

  4. Re:5th Element - Fact not fiction? by sznupi · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Well, not only body; it went also into "rubbish" territory by recreating the brain...

    --
    One that hath name thou can not otter
  5. Re:Hmm... by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Trust me, as long as they can snag a millionaire by bleaching their hair, bobbing their nose, and "enhancing" their breasts, women will continue to do so (and yes, the sister of one of my girlfriends did exactly that). If there was no demand, there would be no supply.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  6. Re:The obvious market driver is... by idontgno · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the first thing I thought about when I read "3D organ printer" was -- well, you know.

    Was it "I bet there'll be a run on legal-size* printer paper..."

    *For those in countries other than that United States, please read that as "ISO B-4".

    Thanks.

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  7. INVEST NOW by thelonious · · Score: 1, Insightful

    These guys will put fleshlight out of business!!

  8. It comes down to how good the scaffold is by damn_registrars · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You need a good extracellular matrix (or as they say, "scaffold") to make good multicellular tissue or organ. Ideally, if the cells are correct for the application - and given the right stimuli - they will eventually make their own matrix for the application.

    One thing they didn't mention in this writeup that many people could truly benefit from, though, is that the printer could potentially make better organs than the ones being replaced. Another poster here asked about heart valves - the printer could potentially print a heart with better valves than the problem heart (which could be more beneficial to the patient than replacing only the valves).

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    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.