GC: n

S: https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/top-10-bioprinters-55699/ (last access: 14 May 2017); https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170123090630.htm (last access: 14 May 2017).

N: 1. From bio- (word-forming element, from Greek bios “one’s life, course or way of living, lifetime” -as opposed to zoe “animal life, organic life”-, from PIE root *gwei- “to live”; the correct usage is that in biography, but in modern science it has been extended to mean “organic life”) and printer (c. 1500, “person who prints books, etc.,” agent noun from print (v.); as a mechanical device from 1859, originally in telegraphy; in the computer sense, from 1946)
Printers have persecuted me without a cause.).
2. A 3D printer used for bioprinting. He has designed a prototype bioprinter that makes living cartilage.
3. 3D printing is increasingly permitting the direct digital manufacture (DDM) of a wide variety of plastic and metal items. While this in itself may trigger a manufacturing revolution, far more startling is the recent development of bioprinters. These artificially construct living tissue by outputting layer-upon-layer of living cells. Currently all bioprinters are experimental. However, in the future, bioprinters could revolutionize medical practice as yet another element of the New Industrial Convergence.
4. Bioprinters may be constructed in various configurations. However, all bioprinters output cells from a bioprint head that moves left and right, back and forth, and up and down, in order to place the cells exactly where required. Over a period of several hours, this permits an organic object to be built up in a great many very thin layers.
5. In addition to outputting cells, most bioprinters also output a dissolvable gel to support and protect cells during printing. A possible design for a future bioprinter appears below and in the sidebar, here shown in the final stages of printing out a replacement human heart.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=bio-; http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=printer (last access: 14 May 2017). 2. OD – https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bioprinter (last access: 14 May 2017). 3 to 5. http://explainingthefuture.com/bioprinting.html (last access: 14 May 2017).

SYN: 3D bioprinter, biological printer, 3D biological printer.

S: GDT – http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=26529103 (last access: 14 May 2017)

CR: biopsy, 3D printer, 3D printing.