Will gestured down to the power strip in the wall, and Yamamoto bent down and flicked on the surge protector. The machine wheezed and babbled into life.

“Anyone know what this piece of machinery is?” Rothman said, not missing a beat and bending forward to stare into the innards of the device. As she moved closer, Pia could see how intricate the engineering on the device was, with tracking bars and a large array like the inkjet of a printer. Pia opened her mouth, but Lesley beat her to it. “An organ printer?” She had seen the cover of the book Rothman was holding.

“Yes, for three-D bioprinting. We have an older machine, but this one is new. Someone from the manufacturer is coming tomorrow to show us how to use it.”

“Perhaps we should wait till then to turn it on, Doctor,” Yamamoto said.

“No harm in warming it up. Mr. McKinley, what do you know about three-D bioprinting?”

“I think it works like a regular printer, spraying living cells onto a sheet of . . . a sheet of something. It goes back and forth building up the layers into a three-dimensional structure. The cells can often organize themselves to function collectively. So far it has applications making skin and cartilage.”

“Indeed. You can print a spinal disk. Which I may need to try by tomorrow,” said Rothman, straightening up and rubbing the small of his back.

“We’re all going to get up to speed on this machine together. As this engineering matures it might be quicker than growing organs. At this stage I’m thinking of using it to fix defects in the organs that we’re growing. But who knows? The value of this technology is that an organ would be fashioned as the mirror image of the patient’s by using data from MRI studies. As is often the case with organogenesis, the hardest part is not in replicating the function of the organ, or gland, but in connecting it to the rest of the body—veins, arteries, ducts, and so on have to be oriented appropriately to make the surgery feasible.”

Rothman had found a switch and he toggled it on and off. He then reopened the instruction book and immediately became engrossed.

Yamamoto ushered the students away. Will looked back at Rothman.

“I hope that thing’s still working when the guy comes tomorrow.”

The students spent the rest of the day monitoring the organ baths. They’d found that some did experience small changes in temperature or pH spontaneously, and the three talked with Yamamoto about designing an alarm system even for those minor fluctuations. It seemed to them that even such small changes might impact the results. It was real science, demanding and exciting for each student. Will and Lesley worked closely, keeping a respectful distance from Pia, who was in her own world.