Questão 93 da prova rosa do segundo dia do Enem 2016

Frankentissue: printable cell technology

In November, researchers from the University of Wollongong in Australia announced a new bio-ink that is a step toward really printing living human tissue on an inkjet printer. It is like printing tissue dot-by-dot. A drop of bio-ink contains 10,000 to 30,000 cells. The focus of much of this research is the eventual production of tailored tissues suitable for surgery, like living Band-Aids, which could be printed on the inkjet.

However, it is still nearly impossible to effectively replicate nature’s ingenious patterns on a home office accessory. Consider that the liver is a series of globules, the kidney a set of pyramids. Those kinds of structures demand 3D printers that can build them up, layer by layer. At the moment, skin and other flat tissues are most promising for the inkjet.