Plug and play bone repair
New method for printing artificial bone using ink made from living bone could aid reconstructive surgery
Bone takes a long time to grow and repair, so treating serious damage or carrying out reconstructive procedures can be a slow and painstaking process. However, Jake Barralet of the faculty of dentistry at McGill University in Montréal, Québec and Uwe Gbureck of the department for functional materials in medicine and dentistry at the University of Würzburg, Bavaria and their colleagues have developed a method for 'printing' artificial bone from the same chemical components as living bone using a modified ink-jet printer.1 Their approach allows them to include the biomolecules needed to trigger blood-vessel growth in the artificial material to allow it to be incorporated into living bone after it has been grafted. The printer can be used to print directly layer upon layer of artificial bone for quick-fix grafts used in reconstructive surgery.
Thanks for using Education in Chemistry. You can view one Education in Chemistry article per month as a visitor.
Register for Teach Chemistry for free, unlimited access
Registration is open to all teachers and technicians at secondary schools, colleges and teacher training institutions in the UK and Ireland.
Get all this, plus much more:
- unlimited access to resources, core practical videos and Education in Chemistry articles
- teacher well-being toolkit, personal development resources and online assessments
- applications for funding to support your lessons
Already a Teach Chemistry member? Sign in now.
Not eligible for Teach Chemistry? Sign up for a personal account instead, or you can also access all our resources with Royal Society of Chemistry membership.