The art of 3D printing could not have been possible without Charles W. Hull and Organovo. 3D printers were invented in 1984 by Hull. In May of 2009, almost 25 years later, a US company, Organovo, began to use 3D printers to print bio tissues. The development of 3D printed human tissues allow an alternate choice for many fatal issues. The industry of 3D printing organs has grown quickly over time. This is shown by the studies and laboratories becoming available over the past 10 years. Whereas the scientific world has embraced this development, the public opinion has had very little to say. Niki Vermeulen et al addressed this in their study, going as far to say the public has been oblivious to 3D printing possibilities. 

There are many companies currently working on this topic. One company working on the process of 3D printing organs is Organovo, which is the most well known human tissue engineering company. Organovo designs and creates functional, 3 dimensional human tissues for research. Another notable group working in this field is Anthony Atala and his team at Boston Children's Hospital who work in bioprinting. A new advancement in this field is that micro-organs are now being engineered to generate complex living systems or microphysiological systems. Typically, a bio-printer costs around $100,000 and the printing of a living tissue can be around $1,000. The global 3D bioprinting market was priced at around $1.3 billion in 2022 and has been estimated at $3.3 billion by 2027, a 20.8% increase. The industry will grow as time goes on. 

Our group is proposing that we do a public education seminar where we take 9th grade high school students up to the bioprinting lab at the University of Virginia. They will learn about how this technology works and why it is important. They will engage with the scientist leading in this field and get to interact with the materials used to make the actual products. This will be an opportunity to educate the younger generations about a technology that could potentially be used during their lifetimes.