The Future of Printers: "Skin Printing"

Someday, inkjet printers will become tools to help burn patients create new skin.

The Wall Street Journal of Asia reported on the 12th that a group of American university scientists are trying to use a modified old printer to print different layers of cells on a piece of cotton yarn or collagen through a printer nozzle to develop a This method of manufacture can be used to treat burned human skin. Scientists hope that this "skin printing" technology can provide more sturdy skin than existing skin grafts, reducing postoperative complications.

The current transplantation skin surgery is based on the patient's own skin, artificial skin, donor skin graft, postoperative rejection is the biggest problem. Scientists now studying "skin printing" are trying to make new skins from old inkjet printers produced by Hewlett-Packard and Canon. The printer ejects ink instead of cells. They use spray nozzles to spray cells on cotton tissue to create new active tissue. Scientists prefer older printers because they have larger nozzles and are less likely to damage cells.

The study of skin printing is still at a preliminary stage. One of the scientists, Etalla of the Medical College of North Carolina Wake Forest, believes that this technology may not enter clinical trials until two years later.