Scientists have built a 3-D printer that creates material resembling
human tissues. The novel substance, a deceptively simple network of
water droplets coated in lipids, could one day be used to deliver drugs
to the body -- or perhaps even to replace damaged tissue in living
organs.
The creation, described in the journal Science, consists
of lipid bilayers separating droplets of water -- rather like cell
membranes, whose double layers allow the body’s cells to mesh with their
watery environments while still protecting their contents.
“The great thing about these droplets is that they use pretty much exclusively biological materials,” said study co-author and University of Oxford researcher Gabriel Villar, making them ideal for medical uses.
Los Angeles Times
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