Bioprinting

As the twenty-first century dawned, a handful of inspired scientists tried to use 3D printing to create living human tissue: to 3D print living human cells with a functional organization. Their vision was to restore the health of people with intractable injuries-worn out cartilage, severed nerves, ailing kidneys, failing hearts-the gamut of human frailties. Their modest success energized others to join the quest. Now, after two decades of ingenious effort and hard work, they have carved out a vibrant new discipline: bioprinting.

In Bioprinting: To Make Ourselves Anew, physicist Kenneth Douglas casts an eye over bioprinting's achievements to date and its future prospects. He explains the science with rigor but with a minimum of technical baggage. This is the first book on the subject written expressly for the lay audience: accessible and even entertaining. The author has interviewed two dozen bioprinting researchers from around the world and the personal stories of the scientists behind the science enrich the narrative. These contemporary vignettes are complemented by historical accounts of the women and men whose prescient contributions provided the foundations for bioprinting's development.

Bioprinting describes the challenges and accomplishments in the bioprinting of skin, cartilage, bone, skeletal muscle, neuromuscular junctions, liver, heart, lung, kidneys, and so-called organs-on-a-chip as well as the challenges of providing blood vessels and nerves to bioprinted tissues. This is a compelling tale of a work in progress: to imitate nature in order to help people with debilitating afflictions to heal.