January 5, 2013
The College of Engineering's Biomanufacturing Laboratory is featured in the current issue of Industrial Engineer Magazine.
Titled "Industrial engineers lead research into printing new organs for transplant," the article points out most people do not realize that industrial engineers are playing a pivotal role in tissue engineering and organ printing, a field that is striving to produce functional tissues and organs from patients’ own cells. The field is undeniably multidisciplinary since it requires researchers with various backgrounds, including biology, chemistry, biotechnology and engineering. The most unlikely of the fields involved in this research is industrial engineering, but IEs are developing and refining the various processes required to transform organ printing from theory to reality.
Located in Engineering Research Facility, Biomanufacturing Laboratory is dedicated to studying an interdisciplinary effort spanning engineering, medicine, biology and biotechnology. Biomanufacturing laboratory provides facilities for engineered living tissue systems using next-generation manufacturing tools to build biologically inspired structures to replace diseased or damaged organs and tissues. Laboratory research projects and activities primarily focus on design, modeling and fabrication of tissue replacement parts, tissue scaffolds and medical devices, and cell and organ printing. Diverse software and hardware is available in support of bio-additive manufacturing platforms. Biomanufacturing laboratory canalizes students’ interests into emerging processes and techniques in cell-biomaterial interactions with hands-on laboratory experience.
Industrial Engineer Magazine is the member magazine of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. The complete article is available at /sites/default/files/news/Manufacturing%20Living%20Things.pdf.
