Built from medical-grade plastic and titanium in consultation with doctors, the Biopen is supposedly up to the challenges of an operating room. "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," says Professor Peter Choong, Director of Orthopaedics at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne.

The process yields a very high 97 percent survival rate for the cells. Doctors developed a Biopen prototype several years ago (see the video, above), but refined it considerably, according to a new research paper. The same device could be used in other forms of surgery where custom tissue regeneration is needed, but there's no word yet on when it will be tested on patients or commercialized.