“Could printing body parts be in NC's
manufacturing future?”
is the
question asked by Jim Roberts in his Feb, 12 2013 blog.
It could, and yes you heard
right, we did say printing body parts.
The blog tells us that North Carolina, California, Massachusetts,
New York, Maryland and Connecticut are all “competing for a piece of the
Regenerative medicine market that Dr. Atala believes will have a potential $118
Billion impact on the economy by the year 2015.” (Roberts, 2013) As if that
wasn’t enough “every job in regenerative medicine has a multiplier effect of
creating 5.7 more jobs in the region.” (Roberts, 2013) Certainly giving the
economy a much needed boost.
Now in case you are still wondering what we are talking
about, bioengineers are striving to engineer manmade tissues and organs withthe help of stem cells, pig bladder etc... while 3D printing is a method that
uses a wide array of material such as glass, plastic metals, plastics,
polymers, ceramics, plaster; and even foodstuffs to create a 3D model of the
object you program it to layer by layer. Now combine these two ideas and add
Dr. Anthony Atala and your end up with an idea to produce organs, tissues, bones
etc… using this 3D printing Technology. In case you are wondering if it works,
yes, yes it does.
And it’s already been done! Live, in front of an audience,
during one of the 2011 Ted Talks.
Thanks to Dr. Atala and his staff! Dr. Atala began
printing, yes printing, a kidney during the convention and showed off a
previously printed kidney. Instead of ink or any other material this printer
uses cells. Although these methods are still experimental this method plans to
help against the shortage of organs, replace failing organs due to aging,
disease, and errors in our genetics. He even
sees a future where we may be able to use “printing technology to fabricate
body parts and even print skin tissue directly onto a patient’s wound.”(Jung,
2011)
I am not sure if North Carolina will be a leader of this
method but I do agree that this technology will change the way we live our
lives and benefit the medical, science and financial fields.
It’s so hard to pick just one of these methods, printing
technology is amazing as well and soon enough we may be able to replace many of
the things we use simply by printing them out. (Hoffman, 2011) This would cut
down on many cost, time, energy and resources because you will no longer need
huge factories to produce products if you can print them at home, transportation
time may be cut down and with it pollution levels. Printed meat for consumer consumption
has even been suggested which would end animal cruelty, it doesn't involve
cloning so no moral issued should arise and the cells used to create this meat
would come from an animal, however the animal doesn't need to die since only a
small sample is needed.( Whitwam, 2013) Which
would reduce the waste of water, grazing land, and fuel needed, reduce transportation
cost and time because your meat will be made “fresh”, Forgacs says the printing would be open to a the
public much like “a brewery”.
