Skin and Bones Repaired by Bioprinting During Surgery

schematic showing bioprinting of skin and bone, a rat cartoon with a defect on its head is bioprinted with one bone and 4 skin inks creating bone and skin layers.
Schematic of the skin and bone bioprinting process. After scanning, the bone and then skin layers are bioprinted creating a layered repair with bone, a barrier layer, and dermis and epidermis.
 IMAGE: OZBOLAT LABORATORY, PENN STATE

Fixing traumatic injuries to the skin and bones of the face and skull is difficult because of the many layers of different types of tissues involved, but now, researchers have repaired such defects in a rat model using bioprinting during surgery, and their work may lead to faster and better methods of healing skin and bones.

“This work is clinically significant,” said Ibrahim T. Ozbolat, Hartz Family Career Development Associate Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Biomedical Engineering and Neurosurgery, Penn State...

Read More

Fully Recyclable Printed Electronics developed

Recyclable printed electronics
A 3D rendering of the first fully recyclable, printed transistor

New technique reclaims nearly 100% of all-carbon-based transistors while retaining future functionality of the materials. Engineers at Duke University have developed the world’s first fully recyclable printed electronics. By demonstrating a crucial and relatively complex computer component — the transistor — created with three carbon-based inks, the researchers hope to inspire a new generation of recyclable electronics to help fight the growing global epidemic of electronic waste.

The work appears online recently in the journal Nature Electronics.

“Silicon-based computer components are probably never going away, and we don’t expect easily recyclable electronics like ours to replace the technology and devices that ar...

Read More

Complex Organic Molecules detected in the Starless Core Lynds 1521E

Complex organic molecules detected in the starless core Lynds 1521E
L1521E: A map of the average line-of-sight dust temperature (color scale) and column density (contours) determined from SED fitting of Herschel Space Observatory. Credit: Scibelli et al., 2021.

Using the ARO 12-m telescope, astronomers have investigated a young starless core known as Lynds 1521E (or L1521E). The study resulted in the detection of complex organic molecules in this object. The finding is detailed in a paper April 15 on the arXiv pre-print repository.

Starless cores are dense, cold regions within interstellar molecular clouds. They represent the earliest observable stage of low-mass star formation. Observations show that even in such cold environments, complex organic molecules can be present...

Read More

Inspired by Nature, the research to develop a new Load-bearing Material

Abstract Image
Fabrication of Cartilage-Inspired Hydrogel/Entangled Polymer–Elastomer Structures Possessing Poro-Elastic Properties

Engineers have developed a new material that mimics human cartilage — the body’s shock absorbing and lubrication system, and it could herald the development of a new generation of lightweight bearings.

Cartilage is a soft fibrous tissue found around joints which provides protection from the compressive loading generated by walking, running or lifting. It also provides a protective, lubricating layer allowing bones to pass over one another in a frictionless way. For years, scientists have been trying to create a synthetic material with the properties of cartilage.

To date, they have had mixed results.

But in a paper published in the journal Applied Polymer Mate...

Read More