Using the same technology as your desktop printer, researchers at Wake Forest University built a bioprinter. The printer uses cells instead of ink. It even uses an ordinary, off-the-shelf printhead, connected to test tubes full of different cell types instead of wells full of colored inks. They are using the technology to work on treating burns. The issue with grafting skin from other parts of the body is that some burn victims don’t have enough healthy skin to use on the burned parts and skin grafting can lead to infection and serious complications arise with infection.
Using pre-cultured skin and printing it out on this bioprinter would be a safer way of treating burns. It would also ease the issue of scar tissue. The research is part of an $85 million program funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to use regenerative medicines in battlefield injuries. The technology would greatly help the military, because 10-30 percent of battlefield deaths are due to burns.