A team of biomedical engineer has developed a "bio-ink" that can be used in making 3D printed scaffolds for growing human tissues to repair or replace damaged ones in the body.
According to the Science Daily website, engineers at the New Jersey-based Rutgers University have used versions of hyaluronic acid and polyethylene glycol to form a gel that is strengthened via chemical reactions and would serve as a scaffold.
The website cited David Shreiber, president of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering at Rutgers University, as saying: "Instead of an ink color for an inkjet printer, we want the mixture to have properties that are right for specific cells to multiply, differentiate and remodel the scaffold into the appropriate tissue.”
“We focus on the stiffness of the gel and scaffold binding sites that cells can latch onto and grow.”
The team is currently working on developing various types of bio-ink cartridges that allow printing different scaffolds based on the type of tissue desired.
