The integrated tissue-organ printer (ITOP), is described in a paper published in the journal Nature Biotechnology by researchers from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina.
ITOP prints a 3D biodegradable plastic structure onto which living cells are integrated within water-based gel ink.
Micro channels are built into the plastic to enable nutrients and oxygen to reach the cells which will keep the cells alive long enough to be implanted and allow the patient’s body to grow new blood vessels as the printed plastic structure dissolves.