A modified ink-jet printer can be used to directly print layer upon layer of artificial bone for quick-fix grafts used in reconstructive surgery.
Jake Barralet of the Faculty of Dentistry at the McGill University in Montréal, Québec, and Uwe Gbureck of the Department for Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Würzburg, Bavaria, and their team describe a method for „printing“ artificial bone from the same chemical components as living bone and including biomolecules that trigger blood vessel growth to bring the bone to life after it is implanted in the body. The McGill-Würzburg team uses the minerals brushite and hydroxyapatite instead of conventional „ink“ in their printer. By printing one layer on top of another they can build up a highly porous 3D bioceramic material resembling bone at room temperature.
Printing better bones