• Question: @andrew: how do you make and design bones and muscles???

    Asked by christina to Lizzie, Andrew on 23 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by 572artc35.
    • Photo: Elizabeth Kapasa

      Elizabeth Kapasa answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      Hi Christina,
      I don’t know if this is directed at Andrew not me, but I make bone too although in a different way to Andrew. I make sheets of bone cells and then layer them together – see my profile for pictures!

    • Photo: Andrew Phillips

      Andrew Phillips answered on 24 Jun 2015:

      Hi, we make bone and muscle by designing a structure and then using 3D printing and other techniques to manufacture them. At the moment we aren’t yet able to print in the same materials as those that make up real bone and muscle, but we’re working on doing this in the next couple of years. Our structures could then be seeded with the different type of cells, like the layers of bone cells that Lizzie is developing, before being placed in the body.

      Having the right structure, materials and cells should help any implant to integrate into the remaining parts of the body – although there are a lot of other challenges, like blood and nerve supply!

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