Archive for the ‘tissue’ tag
Precise 3D bone tissue scaffold printer
Researchers at the NYC College of Dentistry are testing a three-dimensional bone tissue scaffold printer that could substantially reduce bone regeneration time in the oral cavity and elsewhere in the body.
The printer, known as a robotic deposition, or Robocaster, coverts three-dimensional information from CT scans, MRIs or other indicators of missing or effective areas of bone, into custom 3D printed tissue scaffolds with a high level of precision. Because the structural elements of the scaffolds are similar in size to ingrowing bone structure (~200µm), the bone is expected to grow faster and more accurately than bone generated from other random orientation types of tissue scaffolds.
Read more on: Bio Tech, bone, printer, Robotics, tissueFirst tissue-engineered whole organ transplant is successful
The transplanted trachea
Surgeons in Spain have carried out the world’s first tissue-engineered whole organ transplant, using a windpipe made from the recipient patients own stem cells.
Scientists from Bristol helped grow the cells for the transplant and the European team believes such tailor-made organs could become the norm.
The recipient patient needed the transplant to save a lung after contracting tuberculosis. The disease had damaged the airways.
Read more on: Bio Tech, cells, stem cells, tissueGenetically-engineered bacteria leads to self-assembling materials
Student Krupa Hirani at work on the biofabricator project
Genetically engineering bacteria to produce self-assembling materials for use in clothing and medical applications, is the aim of a group of Imperial College students taking part in the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition.
The iGEM team from Imperial have been working to develop a method of modifying small harmless soil bacteria called Bacillus subtilis, so that they can produce materials such as cellulose, an organic compound normally found in the cell walls of plants, on command and in a pre-determined pattern. Once the cellouse has been produced by the bacteria, the students expect it to knit together, or ‘self-assemble’ into a required shape, for use in a number of different applications from making three dimensional scaffolds for tissue engineering, to growing biodegradable clothes.
Read more on: bacteria, Bio Tech, cells, cellulose, Imperial College, material, self-assembling, tissueMending broken hearts with tissue engineering
Broken hearts could one day be mended using a novel scaffold developed by MIT researchers and colleagues.
The idea is that living heart cells or stem cells seeded onto such a scaffold would develop into a patch of cardiac tissue that could be used to treat congenital heart defects, or aid the recovery of tissue damaged by a heart attack. The biodegradable scaffold would be gradually absorbed into the body, leaving behind new tissue.
Read more on: Bio Tech, biomaterials, stem cells, tissueNon-invasive nanoparticle measurement
Technology that can determine the concentration of nanomaterials in living tissue has been licensed by The University of Texas at Austin to Houston-based nanoTox.
The technology was developed by James Tunnell, the Cockrell School of Engineering, which specialises in developing minimally invasive optical technologies for the detection, diagnosis and treatment if disease, in particular the application to cancer screening and therapeutics.
Read more on: Bio Tech, nanomaterial, nanoparticles, tissue, x-ray