BioBots

BioBots manufactures 3-D printers that create living tissue for research purposes. Co-founders Danny Cabrera and Ricky Solorzano met in college and applied their combined biology knowledge to invent microwave-size bioprinters. The printers start with cells of the desired tissue and combine them with a powdery "ink," which is molded into the required shape. So far, scientists have used the printers to produce heart and lung tissue as well as cartilage and bone. Bioprinting isn't a new field, but BioBots' price point is. The printers cost a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of dollars usually required for a 3-D bioprinter. Cabrera sees 3-D printing tissue as a means to an end. "The idea of being able to use biology to design and engineer living things that can do things like cure disease or eliminate organ waiting lists, or even revert climate change, or help us live on other planets--that's more what was exciting about it," he says. "3-D printing, bioprinting in general, was really just a starting point."
Note: All data as of 1/31/16