Even though, at times, we might be tempted to feel differently about it, the truth is nothing ever really resides out of our reach. The path to achieve it can certainly look longer than usual on a few occasions, but if we stick around, we do get there sooner or later. This is the piece of truth that some humans have followed rigorously throughout the history, and in all honesty, it boasts a reputation of delivering some handsome dividends. You see, without such a tendency in play, we can easily imagine letting go of certain ideas, which sounded outright crazy when they were first said out aloud only to turn into something special eventually. If that’s the theme we are going for here, then we must mention technology as its most apt representation. The idea of technology was quick to get that ‘ludicrous’ tag from the masses. After all, how a tool capable of doing everything was even possible? Well, as the world would find out, it was possible. In fact, by staying firm on our pursuit to reach technological brilliance, we were able to open up so many new avenues for growth that it suppressed our every initial expectation. Now, a scenario like this was always going to produce many more by-products, and they duly arrived in the form of transformation across all major sectors. Nevertheless, one particular sector that saw its fortunes change by the biggest measure was of healthcare. Medical sector’s transition to medtech will go down as one of the most significant events in the human history, and guess what; it’s only getting bigger and better. The latest evidence for that comes from University of Virginia.
The researching team at University of Virginia has successfully developed a unique bioprinting technique, which essentially uses voxels as its centerpiece for the purpose of creating new tissue and organs. Up until now, any procedures to fulfill the said task involved dealing with sticky bioink filaments and that would pose some serious challenges during 3D structure formation. The new technique, Digital Assembly of Spherical Viscoelastic Bioink Particles (DASP), solves such a conundrum by taking inspiration from video games. Moving away from the traditional methods, the DASP technique uses voxels, 3D cubes enlisted for building graphics in computer games, for depositing bioink in slurry of gelatin microparticles. Add a supportive matrix to the picture, and all of a sudden, you are in a position to construct your desired structure with unbeatable precision.
“We cannot yet precisely define the properties of each particle as Minecraft does for each voxel,” said Liheng Cai, a researcher involved in the study. “But this technology is the first step toward 3D printing tissue with the complexity and organization needed for biomedical engineering, drug screening and disease modeling.”
So far, the team has tested this technique with pancreatic islets, and if reports are to be believed, they have observed an encouragingly quick reaction to glucose followed up by a swift release of insulin.
