The world of 3D bioprinting — creating functional cell patterns for tissues and organs — just keeps getting cooler. It’s expanded to the creation of live body parts and organs, 3D-printed blood vessels, embryonic stem cell building blocks, and nose cartilage. Now, for those of you who may suffer from bad joints, a new type of 3D printer known as the Biopen can create custom cartilage during surgery, offering an effective new way to repair your joints with stem cells.

The Biopen was developed at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and is designed to work specifically in the operating room. The device itself was built from medical-grade plastic and titanium, and the “biogel” or ink is made from hydrogel and stem cells — which have a 97 percent survival rate. The Biopen makes cartilage surgery much easier for doctors because the shape of cartilage needed isn’t known until the operating room, when the patient is cut open. The Biopen makes it possible to tailor the 3D printed cartilage to the person, insert it using surgical scaffolds, then harden the ink with ultraviolet light, all during surgery.

The idea was created through collaboration between scientists and doctors, all of whom had to find the best way for it to fit within the specifics of surgery. “The development of this type of technology is only possible with interactions between scientists and clinicians — clinicians to identify the problem and scientists to develop a solution,” said Professor Peter Choong, Director of Orthopaedics at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, in a press release.

The researchers who designed the Biopen believe that along with other 3D bioprinters, it may “revolutionize” tissue engineering, completing anything from printed layered cells and artificial tissues to customized cartilage. “The biopen project highlights both the challenges and exciting opportunities in multidisciplinary research,” said Professor Gordon Wallace, who worked with Choong in developing the biopen, in the press release. “When we get it right we can make extraordinary progress at a rapid rate.”