Block-Cell Printing

Block Printing New Cells
Block-cell printing of organ tissue, as it is done at the Houston Medical Research Institute, works like this: “The technique uses microfluidic physics to lead living cells into a series of J shaped catches in a silicone mold. The cells flow down a column and fill these traps and once one is full they flow onto the next in the series, creating a line of cells. The lines on the face of the mold are shaped into a grid pattern predetermined during manufacturing. Once loaded the mold can then be used much like a child’s rubber stamp, where cells are applied to a surface such as a growth medium, simply with a steady hand.” While this process is more labor intensive than 3-D printing with live cells, the necessary equipment is inexpensive and the cell survival rate is nearly 100%. MORE
Image Credit: Houston Medical Research Institute and GizMag.com