A team of Japanese scientists is working to create "a next-generation bio 3D printer," which would create custom-made skin, bones and joints.
The 3D structure will "mimic the structure of organs," which will help them to be fully functional if implanted in a human body, reported News Max.
"We usually take cartilage or bone from the patient's own body (for regular implants), but these custom-made implants will mean not having to remove source material," Tsuyoshi Takato, a professor at the University of Tokyo Hospital and an author of the study, said to News Max.
Other scientists around the world have developed small masses of tissue for implants, but this Japanese team of researchers is on its way to making the organs fully functional.
The biggest obstacle the researchers came across so far was how to keep the organs from undergoing heat denaturation.
While they haven't completely found their answer, Takato told News Max they "already have some models and are exploring which offers the most efficient method."
The team hopes to start clinically testing the 3-D printed skin in three years and then proceed to bones, cartilages and joints.
