Graydon Hall

ANTH 1020
10/09/14
3D Bio-printing,
Shaping Our Future
Introduction
As we all know, 3D printing is becoming the next big thing. It started off as a way to
bring 3D objects to life and is now evolving into being able to print new tissue, organs and even
blood cells, for all types of different patients. Imagine not having to wait for a liver transplant or
blood transfusion and being able to use your own genes and DNA, a computer, and 3D bioprinter and create a whole new organ or body part that will not be rejected because it is already
infused with your very own cells. This is a biological ethical issue facing anthropologists
because it is unclear whether it is a good or bad thing to be doing and if it will really help in the
long run. So the question is, is bio-printing going to be what shapes the medical fields future, or
will it have way too many side effects and become something we will have to work at more and
more and fine tune and redesign it until it can have practical uses. It is my belief that this type of
advances in science will benefit everyone and will evolve over time and become an amazing life
saver, due to the ability to print what you need when you need it and completely eliminate the
need for donor wait lists.

Courtesy of: http://www.explainingthefuture.com/bioprinting.html

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Viewpoint 1
Some people believe that bio-printing is a bad thing and I simply cant wrap my head
around it but they do offer some valid points on the matter. Some believe that there are many
problems that will arise such as various ethical concerns, pricing, and the difficulty to maintain
the cell environment. These are all valid points because humans are truly frightened of the
unknown and until it has been proven to work, many people will continue to think this way.
Some of the downsides to bio-printing are that the bio-printed organs, cells, tissue, and blood
might not remain stable for long periods of time or may break down rather quickly. Patrick Cox
wrote an article on how he thinks bio-printing will not be possible by saying:
Im not convinced that organs will ever be printed for several reasons. The
most obvious is that every cell in your body constantly communicates via
messaging molecules with the cells around it. This communication is especially
intense during growth phases. The reason that this is necessary is that organs,
whether livers, kidneys or eyes, are made up of not just one or even hundreds of
different cell types. (Cox, 2013)

Cox does make some good valid points and later goes on to say that bio-printing is hyped up by
media and people get over excited. He finishes the article by saying that there are practical uses
for bio-printing such as printing tissues and organs to see how they react to the drug tests before
human trials but only time will tell.
Other critics that are against stem cell research and therefore bio-printing have said it is a
disgrace because scientists are using embryos stem cells to do it and by people beliefs that life
starts at fertilization of egg and sperm and by the quote some staunch pro-lifers and most prolife organizations regard the destruction of the blastocyst, which is a laboratory-fertilized human

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egg, to be the murder of human life and most people are not ok with this (About, 2014).

Courtesy of: http://rachelstechwriting.blogspot.com/p/cellular-debate.html

Viewpoint 2
Others believe that bio-printing is the way of the future; it is the way to cure many human
illnesses by simply using your own cells and a bio-printed base then allowing the cells to grow
and form organs and tissues and use them for human healing (Leckart, 2013). Some of the pros
of bio-printing are that the human body will be less likely to reject the transplanted organ based
on its own cells, decreased animal testing, reduced organ trafficking, elimination of transplant
lists, saving more lives, and making transplants more cost-effective by having fewer hospital
visits and tests. Imagine being told you have liver or heart failure and you need a transplant but
instead of waiting around for a donors organ, you can donate some good remaining cells of your
liver or heart to be cloned in the same way as the human body does.

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Courtesy of: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-07/how-3-d-printing-body-parts-will-revolutionizemedicine

You would have no rejection rate due to it being made from your cells. Studies have
shown that if 3D bio-printing is successful it will revolutionize the medical field and even be
used in different fields of anthropology.
Three factors are driving the trend: more sophisticated printers, advances in
regenerative medicine, and refined CAD software. To print the liver tissue at
Organovo, Vivian Gorgen, a 25-year-old systems engineer, simply had to click
"run program" with a mouse. Honeycomb-shaped liver tissue is a long way from
a fully functioning organ, but it is a tangible step in that direction. "Getting to a
whole organ-in-a-box that's plug-and-play and ready to go, I believe that could
happen in my lifetime," says Presnell. "I cannot wait to see what people like
Vivian do. The potential is just out of this world. (Leckart, 2013)"

Since the release of this year-old article they have been able to print a heart, liver, ear, nose and
have even moved into printing blood vessels and blood itself by using the cells natural purpose
of reproduction to make more of it.

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Conclusion
I believe that bio-printing is the future and can save so many lives and save everyone a
lot of heartache, suffering, and money. We could use this technology to eventually get rid of
transplant lists and make it available to everyone who needs it. Eventually we may even be able
to grow new bones and even teeth for people, the possibilities are endless. Being an engineering
student it is my job to try and obtain the unobtainable and to dream big and I personally believe
this technology is the starting point to revolutionizing the world for the better and may even be
able to cure disease and help cancer patients.

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Works Cited
"Arguments for and Against Embryonic Stem Cell Research." Pros & Cons of Embryonic Stem Cell
Research. About.com, n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2014.
<http://usliberals.about.com/od/stemcellresearch/i/StemCell1_2.htm>.
Khatiwala, Chirag, Richard Law, Benjamin Shepherd, Scott Dorfman, and Marie Csete. "3D Cell
Bioprinting for Regenerative Medicine Research and Therapie." Academia.edu. World Scientific,
24 Aug. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.academia.edu/4824491/3D_CELL_BIOPRINTING_FOR_REGENERATIVE_ME
DICINE_RESEARCH_AND_THERAPIES_>.
Leckart, Steven. "How 3-D Printing Body Parts Will Revolutionize Medicine." Popular Science. N.p., 6
Aug. 2013. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-07/how-3-dprinting-body-parts-will-revolutionize-medicine>.
"Master course of 3D bio-printing human body parts launched." 3ders.org. N.p., 9 May 2014. Web. 9 Oct.
2014. <http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140509-master-course-of-3d-bio-printing-human-bodyparts-launched.html>.
Ozbolat, Ibrahim, and Yin Yu. "Bioprinting towards Organ Fabrication: Challenges and Future Trends."
Academia.edu. IEEE, n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.academia.edu/3107094/Bioprinting_towards_Organ_Fabrication_Challenges_and_F
uture_Trends>.
Painter, Ginny. "Anthropologist using 3-D printing technology for research and teaching." Marshall
University Research Corporation. Marshall University Research Corporation, 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 9
Oct. 2014. <http://www.marshall.edu/murc/anthropologist-using-3-d-printing-technology-toenhance-research-and-student-learning/>.