Bioprinting Blog

A lab-on-a-chip is a miniature device that allows the user to integrate several analyses such as DNA sequencing or biochemical detection on a low-cost chip. Lab-on-a-chip research mainly focuses on human diagnostics and biosensing. LOCs allow for reduction of cost through faster analysis of reagents and response time. This helps achieve high-throughput screening and automation of biochemical steps / processes onto a single device. Advantages of lab-on-a-chip devices are generally specialized to their application. Common advantages of LOCs are: waste reduction, efficient resource usage, increased process control, and quicker analysis and response times. Compared to normal experiments, LOCs utilize less sample volumes due to the use of microfluidics. This generates lower reagent costs. Microfluidic chips also allow for increased process control due to faster system responses (5) . The shorter diffusion distance also allows for rapid results, reducing response times and enabling faster...

Written by Ria Bhatia Over the past three decades, the field of 3D bioprinting has emerged, creating endless possibilities for scientific progress. However, there are significant ethical dilemmas that come with this contemporary technology. One of the significant dichotomies in the bioprinting community is caused by those who support the idea of printing organs and those who do not. Throughout the history of organ transplantation, the process has been and continues to be vitiated by the lack of available organs and the long waiting lists for patients to receive a transplant. Currently, about 20 people die every day while on the waiting list [1] . Although it may seem as though bioprinting is the solution to the organ shortage epidemic, there are ethical concerns to this supposed panacea. When the first bioprinted organ is successfully manufactured, the question will arise: will this new technology only benefit the rich? This may very well be a reality of this nascent industry: b...