The next time you want to have an articial bone made, do meet up with researchers from the Tissue Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo Hospital and venture company Next 21. They have developed 3D inkjet printers that can produce tailor-made artificial bones for use in facial reconstructive surgery after successful trials on a Welsh corgi and 10 other people in the past two years. The ink used is a water-based polymer adhesive that hardens the powdered alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP) it comes into contact with. Of course, it will take many layers before a bone is formed, but at least you can reproduced the bone within a 1mm accuracy. I’m sure dogs would love to learn exactly how to use this software so that they can print all sorts of bones to bury in the backyard later.
Filed in ..