Developed technologies for 3D printing of skin and joints

At present, more than 20 million people in Japan need to transplant skin, bones, cartilage and joints. The University of Tokyo Medical School Affiliated Hospital announced that its research team has used 3D printers and genetic engineering technology to successfully develop technologies that can mass-produce skin, bones, and joints that can be transplanted to the human body in a short period of time.

At present, a transplant is performed mainly using a tissue that is removed from a site other than the patient's own affected part, which imposes a great burden on the patient's body. In addition, there is a method of making a tissue for transplantation using a 3D printer using animal tissues, plastics, and the like as raw materials. Although this method can reduce the suffering of patients, there is a risk of infection, and the process of transplanting the tissues and the human body takes two to three years, and it is difficult to make tissues such as skulls and femurs that require certain strength.

The research team led by Professor Takao Takashi, a hospital of the University of Tokyo Medical School, noted that more than 70% of the basic structures such as skin, cartilage, and bone are made of collagen. They used recombinant human collagen peptide developed by Fujifilm Co., Ltd. based on genetic engineering as their main material, mixed stem cells extracted from the patient's own body and growth factors that promote cell proliferation, and then filled them into an improved medical 3D printer. At the same time, according to the in vivo tissue data obtained by computed tomography (CT), the required tissue can be produced in two to three hours, and different shapes and sizes of tissues can be made according to different patients.

The new technology is characterized by the ability to reduce the risk of post-operative infections. The transplanted tissue naturally fuses with the body within months. This technology can also be used to make organs such as the liver, which is expected to make significant progress in regenerative medicine.

The research team hopes that after obtaining the approval of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, it will strive to bring this technology to a practical level after five years.