Yes, I agree that 3D-bioprinting has become a very popular trend. I also became very interested on the subject during my senior project design. Particularly, I think the projects that wake forest are performing with 3D printing are amazing since they are using this technology towards military applications. Currently, they have two 3D printing projects. One is about bioprinting skin cells on burn wounds for soldiers. During phase I of the project, they designed, built and tested a printer designed to print skin cells onto burn wounds. The “ink” is actually different kinds of skin cells. A scanner is used to determine wound size and depth. Different kinds of skin cells are found at different depths, therefore the scanned data guides the printer as it applies layers of the correct type of cells to cover the wound. Now, they are undergoing phase two, in which these team will explore whether a type of stem cell found in amniotic fluid and placenta (afterbirth) is effective at healing wounds. The goal of the project is to bring the technology to soldiers who need it within the next 5 years.
Wake Forest’s second project is about exploring 3D printing for head and face injuries. As we know, Blast injuries and injuries from high velocity projectiles are difficult to repair with current methods and there is a need for novel approaches to generate replacement tissues such as bone, nerve, blood vessels, fat, and muscle. As a result, this team is exploring printing these complex tissue components for facial and skull reconstruction using a 3-D printer. The link to this is: http://www.wakehealth.edu/Research/WFIRM/Research/Military-Applications.htm