Slashdot Mirror
Kidney Printer
smitty777 writes "Dr. Anthony Atala of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine demonstrated his technique for printing a new kidney. The early stage technology involves scanning the patient's current organ, and actually printing the organ directly into the patient. He refutes reported claims that it's just a kidney shaped mold, as reported by some. While still in the early stages, it does hold promise that we will be able to use this technology for actual transplants in the future."
HP's ink cartridges cost a kidney, new printer can actually print kidneys.
The circle of life is complete.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
That's where they get you! $30 for a printhead with some "genuine HP kidney cells" inside.
before we can print a new Milla Jovovich?
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
just took on a whole new meaning.
I just caught up and bought a 3d printer, and now they come out with a kidney printer... it's a never ending cycle.
TFS: "He refutes reported claims that it's just a kidney shaped mold, as reported by some"
TFA: "Wake Forest has since clarified media inaccuracies in a press release, stating Dr. Atla printed "a kidney-shaped mold", not a functioning kidney."
Wake Forest has since clarified media inaccuracies in a press release, stating Dr. Atla printed "a kidney-shaped mold", not a functioning kidney.
Where's the link for Dr. Atala contradicting Wake Forest?
I hear it costs an arm and a leg!
From the summary:
He refutes reported claims that it's just a kidney shaped mold, as reported by some.
From the linked story:
Wake Forest has since clarified media inaccuracies in a press release, stating Dr. Atla printed "a kidney-shaped mold", not a functioning kidney.
Did he print an actual kidney or not. I am guessing not.
In the TED talk, he blames things like "we're living longer" for the shortage of organs. The much more obvious reason why there is a shortage of organs, and why organs are so expensive, is that it is illegal to sell one's own organs. An elderly person has no incentive to donate his organs on death, if his surviving loved ones do not profit from it.
This shortage is contrived.
The "kidneys" produced could not be printed into the patient, they're not functional.
You take an inkjet printer, load the tank with (organ specialized) human cells and print the organ layer by layer with a filler material to hold it all together. The best source of human cells would be stem cells(made from that person to prevent immune system hazards), though taking cells from an existing kidney might work in some cases. It would work best done outside the body at least till the glue dries. Should work for most of the organs in the human body, including muscle and tendons. stem cell research is almost at the point this can be done, eliminating the need for donor organs. In theory this would work for bones as well, allowing you to print an arm or leg. In about 25 years we'll have the stem cell/printer tech to print a whole person with this tech (or build an android that looks/feels the same), though i'm sure that will be banned by the religious extremists. If AI ever works techno-nerds living in their parents basements will finally .
It was published in the January 2007 F&SF (fantasy/scifi) magazine, if I recall correctly. It was about a society that "printed" bones and other organs by converting yellow dust into a hard polymer.
Unfortunately this proved to be a disruptive technology, because pretty soon people were printing all kinds of crap like Dishes, pots/pans, even whole houses/shacks. It toppled the scarcity-based economy since everything could be instantly copied for cheap. (Kinda like books, music, and video today.)
Information wants to be expensive AND wants to be free. So you have Value vs. Cheap distribution fighting each other.
How do they taste? How about with some fava beans and a nice chianti?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
TFA makes it sound like a printer for a much simpler organ (bladder) has been used in at least one human trial. I wonder if there is anything published in medical literature about this kind of thing? (I'm not in medicine or biotech, so I wouldn't necessarily know).
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Wish this guy would test the technology using goose liver. It will save the poor birds a lot of grief, assure French restaurants a steady supply of fois gras, satisfy PETA and will get to the market sooner.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Let that thing dry completely before you touch it...wouldn't want it to smudge.
http://gutenver.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/hello_kidney_design_light_blue.png
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney.html
You can watch the actual video here.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
I might be interested in a liver in 30 years--Government based IT work is enough to drive anyone to drink.
I'll drink to that! Can he get me a new liver too?
Male enlargement printing , up to five inch more of manliness.
What the f@(% does that mean?
Some time in the future, will we be striving for the kidneyless office and be content with viewing virtual kidneys on our monitors? After all, real kidneys are wasteful and harmful to the planet. Aren't they?
http://www.acetonestudio.com
And after you get your shiny new custom made organ you'll be enrolled in our easy payment plan....
The fine print: failure to pay will result in reposession.
The iLiver.
It gets the command to print a new kidney.
It reports that it will be ready it 48 hours.
It flies down to Mexico.
Some unsuspecting tourist wakes up in a bathtub of ice.
You get a new kidney.
Let's keep profits out of the organ donor process. The last thing we need are, "Need money fast? Donate a kidney! Don't worry. You have two of them!"
I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it. -- Groucho Marx
I'm going to assume kidneys won't be the only organs that will be considered for fabrication.
"Hey doc, that kidney works great! Uh, how about, you know, printing out something else I already got, only make it like a wide-body stretch version?..."
Why not print something you can sell to everyone? T-Bone steaks! If you think your printer cartridge cost is bad now, wait until you try to buy the kidney favored one!
Heh, hehe heheheh heheheheheheh....
He said 'hard disk'.
Heh, hehe heheheh heheheheheheh....
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Nice job /.
Penis printing facilities. Price is measure in standard page sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, US Letter size, or Foolscap.
Task Mangler
Reality:
"Reports in the media that Dr. Anthony Atala printed a real kidney at the TED conference in Long Beach, Calif., are completely inaccurate. At the conference, Dr. Atala used a new type of technology to print a kidney-shaped mold and explained how one day – many years from now – the technology might be used to print actual organs."
http://www.wfubmc.edu/Research/WFIRM/Media-Reports-on-Kidney-Printing-Inaccurate.htm
Slashdot:
"The early stage technology involves scanning the patient's current organ, and actually printing the organ directly into the patient. He refutes reported claims that it's just a kidney shaped mold, as reported by some."
Designing the "molds" and running the printing process itself (managing printers, dealing with the raw material), etc would account for the manufacturing sector of this society
I admit I'm not a Star Trek expert, but I think this was the whole point of Star Trek replicators, to show these things' effect on economy (also by contrasting with latinum and the Ferengi)
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Give me a heads-up when they can print hearts and brains. I may be able to get a couple of government contracts. No, they don't need to be bleeding edge hi-res for that.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.