University of Virginia, School of Medicine
High-End Bioprinters for Tissue, Organ Fabrication
Dr. Shayn Peirce-Cottler
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia:
The University of Virginia has acquired two new state-of-the-art three-dimensional bioprinters and has begun training lab scientists and bioengineers to “print” tissues that could eventually be used to treat patients with illnesses and injuries ranging from burns to diabetes, and heart, liver and kidney failure.
The two bioprinters, manufactured by a leading 3-D bioprinting company, regenHU of Switzerland, are among only four such top-of-the-line machines now in use in the United States. The other two are at medical centers in Boston and Miami.
The printers enable bioengineers to “print” or “draw out” living cells, such as skin or bone or other cell types, onto a substrate, building tissue structure layer by layer, resulting in a custom-designed bit of living material that potentially could be implanted or grafted onto a patient to repair or replace damaged tissue.
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