Innovators
Organovo Holdings Inc. is a company that prints living human tissues with their 3D Bioprinting Technology. These tissues at times are made for the purpose of drug testing research as the tissues they create are made purely of human cells and the celluar material that they secrete which leads researchers to be big consumers of this.
The company has high hopes and possibilites of printing living human tissues and organs for the purpose of surgical therapy and transplants in the future; when this happens patients whom need transplants will be large scale consumers. As scientists need more accurate experiments and patients need organs, this technology innovation is pushed as it will be highly beneficial to society.
Organovo is currently researching internally and with industry partnerships for in vitro uses. This research is continually funded by investors of their stock market, NYSE-MKT ONVO.
Benefits in using this product versuses conventional ones are that the tissues made at Organovo are much more similar to the actual tissue so that when research is done results are much more reliable. As for the general human population, they will be able to have real organs as replacements.
The video above is by Organovo Inc. about the company itself. Discussing the foundation and precisely what they do. They go over their bioprinting technology and the benefits of it. Majorly outling their objectives in this video for viewers.
Breakdown of bioprinting process of tissues at Organovo.
The image above depict a donated organ, however since these are insufficient, Biofabrication can change this all. Click on the following link to watch a short clip on biofabrication of a kidney:
Wake Forest School of Medicine is one of the universities that is currently doing research on Biofabrication and Regenerative Medicine.
From kidney material to human ears, Wake Forest has tried and also successfully created them through the methods of scaffolding (done by biofabrication). However, although they may be able to recreate these limbs organs/limbs, they are still in the current developmental research of printing/creating actual functional tissues.
Just like the organs/tissues made by Organovo, these tissues will be great organ replacements for patients. Wake Forest has collaborated with the Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) and was able to successfully create a 3D printer that grafted and printed out skin. This was a large step for AFIRM as it enabled the military to have newer technology to treat its soldiers.
Vladimir Mironov
In the year 2000, Vladimir Mironov had established and led the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Centre at Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), South Carolina, CA. Having had many years in biofabrication, he is invited to hold lectures on biofabrication techniques and was granted $20 million for research from National Science Foundation (NSF). Although he had been suspended by a MUSC due to a large dispute/disagreement with one of the direcors, he has made large contributions to biofabrication. It is clearly seen that with his suspension at MUSC, the project for 3D printing tissues was slowed down and came to be further prolonged without his capabilities. He would have definitely become a reowned scientist if only if he hadn't been suspended. His capabilites in this field are limitless.
The products Mirnov would produce would impact the general public as these biofabricated organs are needed by people around the world. And, the benefits are immense as it will appease the number of transplants needed with no rejections.
Professor Vladimir Mironov
Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)