3D打印机有望“打印”出人体器官

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

这台机器看起来既像玩具“建造模型”又像喷墨打印机。

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”感觉像是苹果酱看起来却像糖霜一样。当喷嘴层层喷洒这些珍珠粉般的物质时，你大可以想象这台机器将如何在姜饼上面绘制精美的图案。

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

但是，这些黏性物质是用活着的细胞组成的，而这台机器“打印”的正是一个身体“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。

这些机器被称为3D打印机，他们的工作原理和平常的打印机非常相似。但和在纸上喷墨不同，他们将层层活性物质累积从而制造一个3D物体。这项技术已经有将近20年的历史，便利了牙医、珠宝商以及机器制造工人的同时，还为那些梦想不用打造模具就可以为人们定制巧克力的巧克力生产商带来了福音。

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。

在本世纪初，科学家和医生们就看到了该技术的潜力无穷——人们可以利用它制作活性组织，甚至是人类器官。他们称这项技术为3D生物打印，而它也成为组织工程学新兴领域的热门分支。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。

在世界各地的实验室里，化学、生物、医药和工程学领域的专家们正致力于研究实现一个大胆目标的多元途径。而这个目标就是：用病患自己的细胞打印出功能齐全的肝、肾或者心脏。

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

这个方向没什么错。如果他们成功了，等待器官捐献的病患名单将成为过去时。

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。

生物打印技术要打印出这么复杂的器官可能还要好几年甚至几十年，但是科学家们已经打印出了皮肤和脊椎间盘并将它们植入了生命体内。目前为止，人类还没有接受过这样的移植手术，但未来两到五年内会有一些打印好的可替代器官进入人体试验进程。

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。

科学家称最大的技术困难并不是制造器官本身，而是复制器官内部错综复杂的血管网络，这些血管起到了滋养器官、为器官提供氧气的作用。

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。

许多组织工程学家认为如今最好的办法可能是打印出一个器官最大的连接性血管，然后给那些大血管细胞留出充足的时间、空间和理想环境自造剩余血管，最终器官便可以被植入体内。