KOCHI: No need to wait for organ donors to replace diseased body parts. These can be artificially manufactured through '3D bio-printing' and implanted. While experiments for this are progressing in India, one of its main components, 'Bio Ink' (bio-fluid), is being manufactured by a Malayali woman's startup.
Bio-ink was first manufactured in India by Pala native Jikku Jose's 'Scire Science' startup at KINFRA in Kalamassery. It was manufactured using technology developed and transferred by the Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute in Thiruvananthapuram.
Organs made using 3D printing have been successfully tested on mice. The scientific community hopes that it will soon be approved for testing on humans. The organ to be implanted is 3D printed by including the cells of the person whose diseased organ needs to be removed. This is similar to creating a three-dimensional shape of an object in the same way.
Bio-ink, photoinitiator, precision cleaner, and liquid components are used to make the 3D printed organ parts, in addition to body cells. The cells are implanted in the body at the stage where they start growing. Bio-ink will quickly adapt to body cells.
Revolution in organ transplantation
Better than foreign Bio inks
Bio ink manufactured abroad should be kept refrigerated. Indian ink manufactured at Scire Science can be stored at room temperature. Other components for bioprinting are also manufactured at Scire Science. Jikku Jose, who holds a doctorate in biotechnology from CUSAT, started the startup in 2016. Jikku says that she owes the venture, which she started at a time when startups were not widespread, to her father, late Jose Joseph, and mother, Mariyamma.