Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the biological variant of the recent trend towards 3D printing, small scale manufacturing of computer-designed objects from organic material. Looking at the architecture of this new field, its fabric and future, I show how bioprinting matters from a social scientist perspective.

Paper long abstract:

Recent media headlines suggest that scientists will have the ability to create or 'biofabricate' personalised organs such as livers and hearts. While 3D printers and printing have proven successful, are now widely used and commercially available, bio-printing is far more complex, working through the successive layering of organic materials. Bioinks - such as differentiated-, human embryonic-, or induced pluripotent stem-cells - are used to create structures approximating body parts. It is argued that these new forms of printing will have the same revolutionary and democratising effect as book printing, applicable to regenerative medicine and industry. It is not texts that will become broadly available, but individually designed biological structures or body parts.

The emerging field of biofabrication can be located at the crossroad of biology and engineering. Scientists trace back the start of bioprinting to well over three decades ago, with the appearance of articles that started to explore the possibilities to organise cells spatially into structures that closely mimic the native tissue architecture. Looking at the architecture of this new field, its fabric and potential, this paper explores how bioprinting matters from a social scientist perspective. How are new epistemic and material configurations created? How does this new type of bio-object shift social and economic relations, especially in the context of organ replacement? And how can social scientists imprint on current developments in a multi-dimensional way?