Borrowing concepts from 3D printing, scientists in Australia say they’ve come up with a device and a technique that could allow surgeons to precisely deliver live cells and growth factors directly onto damaged bones to help regenerate bone and cartilage.
The “bio pen” holds and dispenses living cell material that’s housed inside a polymer and protected by a second layer of gel material, according to the University of Wollongong. The “ink” is solidified by a low-powered UV light that’s attached to the device, so it can be layered to construct a 3D scaffold in the wound site. From there, it’s expected that the cells will multiply and eventually differentiate into nerve, muscle or bone cells.
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The pen was developed by researchers at the university-based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science and is now in the hands of their clinical partners at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, who will optimize the cell material for potential use in clinical trials.
Peter Choong, director of orthopaedics at St. Vincent’s, said in a statement that this kind of treatment could be suitable for repairing acutely damaged bone and cartilage from sporting or motor vehicle injuries, for example.
Read the whole story from the university here.
[Image credit: University of Wollongong]
