Experts believe that millions of people who need transplants eventually will benefit from organ printing. "I believe in five years we're going to be able to print simple organs, such as a cardiovascular network or a urethra," Prestwich said.

The five-year study, which is being led by a man who pioneered organ printing, Gabor Forgacs, professor of biological physics at the University of Missouri-Columbia, will begin with unraveling the basic mechanisms by which cells and other parts of a living system work together to form patterns and structures. A central point is understanding what regulates shape changes as a human slowly transforms from a spherical egg to a fully grown person.

Then Forgacs wants to duplicate that shape-change process and apply it to organ printing.

The cells and liquid hydrogel are put in the printer cartridge and then dropped into three-dimensional, 1-microliter dots that form layers as the hydrogel hardens. The cells form tissue that can be implanted into a damaged organ.

Forgacs said he uses Prestwich's hydrogel because of its biocompatibility with other cells. Instead of disappearing, it becomes part of a matrix that is integral to the tissue.

The grant includes an educational component that means at some future date, when the research is further along, an exhibit will explain the work and show it in Salt Lake City at Leonardo in Library Square.

The study also involves researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and Columbia University, Prestwich said.

---

E-mail: lois@desnews.com