We have already revealed that inkjet technology could be a new way of delivering drugs to humans by replacing hyperdermic needles. Now it has been revealed that the technology is being developed to create implantable human organs.
Ink-jet cartridges are already being used to "print" stem cells into exacting patterns but now they are going further by exploring ways to print 3-D structures of cells.
"It's a milestone that we can print all types of cells onto a surface with an ink-jet printer without them dying, even stem cells," said Paul Calvert, a materials scientist at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. "Doing this successfully in three dimensions, however, is like going from a black-and-white to a full-colour."
