Technology: The promise of 3-D printing

People in their 30s are probably not thinking about needing surgery to repair their knees. But in a few decades, the rigours of daily living or the ravages of arthritis may send them to the operating theatre. And there, they might find a 3D printer ready to build new bone or cartilage in their bodies. Such is the hope of Ibrahim Ozbolat, a biological engineer at Pennsylvania State University in University Park who is developing 3D-printing techniques to repair tissue such as cartilage. He envisions a machine that will deposit successive layers of biocompatible material, laden with cells, into a defect. “In the future, we can have the patient under the bioprinter,” says Ozbolat. And his vision is not limited to knees. “Whatever section of the body needs to be fixed, the bioprinter can repair that.”