Bioprinting

I'm secretly nurturing a tiny category of links under the tag Personal Manufacturing 2.0.
Of course this subject has nothing to do with Web 2.0 - for me it's just a way not to lose my notes on this subject;-)
Yesterday morning my day started extra happy when I read this fascinating article about printing muscle and bone in MIT's Technology Review. Just a few quotes:

"Researchers [...] have successfully directed adult stem cells from mice to develop into bone and muscle cells with the aid of a custom-designed ink-jet printer. [...] For years, tissue engineers have used souped-up printers, and in some cases off-the-shelf models, to print "bio-inks." These inks consist of anything from proteins to individual cells printed in microscopic patterns. By printing layer upon layer of cell patterns, scientists may one day be able to "print" whole tissues or organs for replacement therapies. Now [these researchers] have added a new branch to the budding field of bioprinting. Certain growth factors spur stem cells to morph into specific kinds of cells, such as bone or muscle. Campbell and his colleagues have successfully printed growth-factor solutions on the same slide, or "paper," forming a scaffold onto which stem cells can interact and differentiate into bone or muscle cells side by side. [...].