Welsh scientists have built a human-skin printer from Lego for less than £500 and which could change the way doctors treat skin diseases.
Sion Coulman, Chris Thomas and Oliver Castell, lecturers at Cardiff University, were all involved in the project, which was funded by the British Skin Foundation. The three men explained that sourcing human tissue samples for biological investigations isn’t always easy. And that's where their DIY bioprinter comes in.
Bioprinting isn't new and nor is 3D printing. It sounds complex but using Lego helps demonstrate that the principles are actually quite simple. 3D bioprinting technology involves loading “bio-ink”, which contains living cells, into a cartridge. That, in turn, is then loaded into the bioprinter. Once programmed, the bioprinter prints the cell-laden bio-ink to form 3D structures that aim to replicate the complex formation of biological tissue.
