3D打印機有望“打印”出人體器官

The machine looks like the offspring of an Erector Set and an inkjet printer。

這臺機器看起來既像玩具“建造模型”又像噴墨打印機。

The "ink" feels like applesauce and looks like icing. As nozzles expel the pearly material, layer by layer, you imagine the elaborate designs this device could make on gingerbread cookies。

而“墨水”感覺像是蘋果醬看起來卻像糖霜一樣。當噴嘴層層噴灑這些珍珠粉般的物質時，你大可以想象這臺機器將如何在薑餅上面繪製精美的圖案。

But the goo is made of living cells, and the machine is "printing" a new body part。

但是，這些黏性物質是用活着的細胞組成的，而這臺機器“打印”的正是一個身體“部件”。

These machines - they're called three-dimensional printers - work very much like ordinary desktop printers. But instead of just putting down ink on paper, they stack up layers of living material to make 3-D shapes. The technology has been around for almost two decades, providing a shortcut for dentists, jewelers, machinists and even chocolatiers who want to make custom pieces without having to create molds。

這些機器被稱爲3D打印機，他們的工作原理和平常的打印機非常相似。但和在紙上噴墨不同，他們將層層活性物質累積從而製造一個3D物體。這項技術已經有將近20年的歷史，便利了牙醫、珠寶商以及機器製造工人的同時，還爲那些夢想不用打造模具就可以爲人們定製巧克力的巧克力生產商帶來了福音。

In the early 2000s, scientists and doctors saw the potential to use this technology to construct living tissue, maybe even human organs. They called it 3-D bioprinting, and it is a red-hot branch of the burgeoning field of tissue engineering。

在本世紀初，科學家和醫生們就看到了該技術的潛力無窮——人們可以利用它製作活性組織，甚至是人類器官。他們稱這項技術爲3D生物打印，而它也成爲組織工程學新興領域的熱門分支。In laboratories all over the world, experts in chemistry, biology, medicine and engineering are working on many paths toward an audacious goal: to print a functioning human liver, kidney or heart using a patient’s own cells。

在世界各地的實驗室裏，化學、生物、醫藥和工程學領域的專家們正致力於研究實現一個大膽目標的多元途徑。而這個目標就是：用病患自己的細胞打印出功能齊全的肝、腎或者心臟。

That's right - new organs, to go. If they succeed, donor waiting lists could become a thing of the past。

這個方向沒什麼錯。如果他們成功了，等待器官捐獻的病患名單將成爲過去時。

Bioprinting technology is years and possibly decades from producing such complex organs, but scientists have already printed skin and vertebral disks and put them into bodies. So far, none of those bodies have been human, but a few types of printed replacement parts could be ready for human trials in two to five years。

生物打印技術要打印出這麼複雜的器官可能還要好幾年甚至幾十年，但是科學家們已經打印出了皮膚和脊椎間盤並將它們植入了生命體內。目前爲止，人類還沒有接受過這樣的移植手術，但未來兩到五年內會有一些打印好的可替代器官進入人體試驗進程。

Scientists say the biggest technical challenge is not making the organ itself, but replicating its intricate internal network of blood vessels, which nourishes it and provides it with oxygen。

科學家稱最大的技術困難並不是製造器官本身，而是複製器官內部錯綜複雜的血管網絡，這些血管起到了滋養器官、爲器官提供氧氣的作用。

Many tissue engineers believe the best bet for now may be printing only an organ's largest connector vessels and giving those vessels' cells time, space and the ideal environment in which to build the rest themselves; after that, the organ could be implanted。

許多組織工程學家認爲如今最好的辦法可能是打印出一個器官最大的連接性血管，然後給那些大血管細胞留出充足的時間、空間和理想環境自造剩餘血管，最終器官便可以被植入體內。