21.02.2011, 18:16 5898

Scientists will use bioprinter to produce human skin

U.S. medical researchers are looking for ways to use ink-jet printers to produce skin to treat soldiers wounded on the battlefield, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Almaty. February 21. Kazakhstan Today - U.S. medical researchers are looking for ways to use bioprinter to produce skin to treat soldiers wounded on the battlefield, Kazakhstan Today reports.

INK-jet printing technology has inspired scientists to look for ways to build sheets of skin that could one day be used for grafts in burn victims, experts say, AFP reported.

One technique involves a portable bioprinter that could be carried to wounded soldiers on the battlefield where it would scan the injury, take cells from the patient and print a section of compatible skin.

Another uses a three-dimensional printer combining donor cells, biofriendly gel and other materials to build cartilage.

The 3-D printer was shown at work, building a prototype of an ear during a half-hour demonstration at a Washington science conference.

The skin-printing process involves several steps. First, a small piece of skin is taken from the patient. The sample is about half the size of a postage stamp, and it is taken from the patient by using a chemical solution, CNN informs.

Those cells are then separated and replicated on their own in a specialized environment that catalyzes this cell development.

"We expand the cells in large quantities. Once we make those new cells, the next step is to put the cells in the printer, on a cartridge, and print on the patient," Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said.

The printer is then placed over the wound at a distance so that it doesn't touch the burn victim. "It's like a flat-bed scanner that moves back and forth and put cells on you," said Atala.

Once the new cells have been applied, they mature and form new skin.

Specially designed printer heads in the skin bio-printer use pressurized nozzles - unlike those found in traditional inkjet printers.

The device can fabricate healthy skin in anywhere from minutes to a few hours, depending on the size and type of burn, according to the report.

In the meantime, researchers said they're pleased with results of preliminary laboratory testing with the skin printer.

Atala said the researchers already have been able to make "healthy skin."

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