The Billion Cell Construct: Will Three-Dimensional Printing Get Us There?

How structure relates to function-across spatial scales,from the single molecule to the whole organism-is a central theme in biology. bioengineers,however,wrestle with the converse question: will function follow form? that is,we struggle to approximate the architecture of living tissues experimentally,hoping that the structure we create will lead to the function we desire. a new means to explore the relationship between form and function in living tissue has arrived with three-dimensional printing,but the technology is not without limitations. © 2014 jordan s.