"Inkjet" printer helps organize stem cells

the second page of the article explains the process...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An "inkjet"-style printer for stem cells may help scientists put the precious master cells to good use, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

A team of bioengineers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh joined forces with stem cell biologists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to create the system, which they eventually hope will help them make stem cells grow into complex tissues.

Stem cells are like the raw clay of the body, undifferentiated into specific tissue types such as brain cells, skin cells or liver cells.

Doctors hope they hold the key to a whole range of regenerative therapies, but they are tricky to find and to work with. And it is not always easy to get them to mature into the desired cells.

Tissue is complex, made up of a variety of different types of cells, and they must be layered together in the right pattern to work properly.

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stem cell research