A portable bioprinter could heal even the most severe burns
3D printing of skin is really within reach: researchers at the University of Toronto and Sunnybrooke Health Sciences Centre have developed a portable bioprinter capable of creating sheets of skin to accelerate the healing of serious wounds and burns. The device is easy to handle and ultimately resembles a glue gun, also incorporating a roller to spread the material. It could be used in hospitals and health care facilities to treat the most serious skin problems and to meet the challenges posed by transplants.
Richard Cheng and Professor Axel Guenther began their project in 2018 and presented a first prototype, based on the observation that current bioprinters are too bulky, slow, expensive and incompatible with daily use in a hospital. Two years later, the researchers claim that their portable bioprinting solution can heal wounds: they demonstrated that the bioink they developed accelerated the healing process. It would thus provide an alternative to autologous transplants, which are not a viable solution in the case of very severe burns since the doctor cannot remove enough “healthy” skin from the patient.
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