One of the more exciting potential applications of 3D printing is in the field of tissue engineering. While we are still far from off-the-shelf replacement hearts, eyes and other body parts we are now slowly starting to understand what we may require for viable, living cells to be printed and also how these materials can maintain structure long enough for neighbouring cells to find one another and stick together in order to form a tissue slice. Naturally multiple cell types and tissue slices make up an organ (for an excellent review see Miller JS (2014) The Billion Cell Construct: Will Three-Dimensional Printing Get Us There? PLoS Biol 12(6): e1001882. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001882) so we need to develop tools to accurately place a variety of cells in 3D space and also to provide these cells with ample nutrition and waste removal system via a functional vascular system.
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